President Trump campaigned on a vow to round up the “worst of the worst” offenders among the criminals who were living illegally inside the United States. But CBS News has obtained deportation data that indicates the Trump administration’s deportation push has ensnared many undocumented immigrants without violent criminal records.
Of the estimated 100,000 people who have been deported since January of this year by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 70,583 were convicted criminals, according to an ICE document obtained by CBS News. However, the data also shows that most of the documented infractions were traffic or immigration offenses.
The ICE document listed out raw data that was broken down by conviction, not by deportee.
Some 2,355 of the convictions had to do with sex offenses, making up 1.8% of the total number of criminals who were deported. Another 1,628, or 1.2%, were for sexual assault. The number of homicide convictions totaled 729, or 0.58% of deportees, and the number of convicted kidnappers was 536, or 0.42%.
About 10,738 convictions were for assault, or 15.2% of deportees, the data showed.
ICE’s public messaging about its deportation push has focused on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records, highlighting deportees who were convicted of murder, sex offenses and other violent crimes.
Another stated goal of the Trump administration was to remove those with ties to criminal organizations. The CBS News-obtained document shows that 3,256 of the more than 100,000 people removed, or 3.26%, were known or suspected gang members or terrorists.
In response to a CBS News inquiry, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said ICE has now deported about 140,000 undocumented immigrants since Mr. Trump took office. She also added that 70% of those arrested by ICE were of “illegal aliens with criminal convictions or have pending criminal charges.” McLaughlin declined to detail the nature of the convictions or criminal charges, or offer further specifics.
Back on June 11, six Republican lawmakers who are members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference wrote to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons to urge the Trump administration to prioritize the detention of violent offenders, convicted criminals and national security threats. ICE has now responded to that inquiry for the first time with figures of those deported since Jan. 1.
The Republicans who signed the letter include the conference’s chair, Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Texas, along with Reps. Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David Valadao of California, Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and Gabe Evans of Colorado.
ICE arrests have soared since Mr. Trump took office, averaging 1,200 per day in the first three weeks of June, according to internal figures previously reported by CBS News. White House adviser Stephen Miller has pushed the agency to aim for 3,000 arrests per day, a more-than-twofold increase that has led to pressure on ICE leadership.
An increasingly large share of ICE detainees do not have criminal records, CBS News has previously reported. Around 40% of the agency’s detainees since Mr. Trump took office had criminal convictions of some kind with 8% of them convicted of violent crimes.
Mr. Trump and top administration officials have said their focus is on arresting and deporting people with serious criminal records.
“The violent criminals in our country are the priority now,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters last month.
White House “border czar” Tom Homan says the administration’s primary focus is on the “worst” offenders, but he has long said any undocumented immigrant could be subject to arrest.
“If you’re in the country illegally, you are not off the table,” Homan said at an event in Texas this week. “We prioritize the worst, first. That makes sense. But it doesn’t mean you prioritize this group and everybody else is good to go.”
