Shocker: ICE is not detaining and deporting 'the worst of the worst'
by Lisa Needham
Daily Kos Staff
Friday, Sep. 26, 2025 at 3:30:05p CDT
New numbers from the Trump administration show what we’ve known all along: The largest number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention are people with no criminal record.
The Guardian reports that of the 59,762 people in ICE detention facilities, 16,523 of those arrested by ICE agents have no criminal record while 15,725 do, and 13,767 have pending charges. In a June report, NBC News found that the most common crimes were traffic offenses and immigration violations. You’ll note those numbers don’t add up to the 59,762 total. That’s because there are also people in ICE facilities who were not arrested by ICE.
As much as President Donald Trump and his lackeys keep bragging about all the undocumented violent criminals they’ve taken off the streets, it turns out that ICE actually sucks at that. Last fall, ICE reported it knew of 13,099 undocumented people convicted of homicide and 15,811 convicted of sexual assault, but were not in custody.
The June NBC News report found that, from Oct. 1, 2024, through May 31 of this year, ICE arrested 752 people with homicide convictions and 1,693 with sexual assault convictions. So, of the group that the administration hypes as the most dangerous undocumented people out there, ICE has detained 6% of known murderers and 11% of those convicted of sexual assault.
Instead of arresting murderers, ICE is scooping up tamale vendors who have been here 20 years, day laborers in Home Depot parking lots, pastors, and old women.
In response to The Guardian’s report, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin just went with the same rote language the administration always uses about how great they are and how dangerous immigrants are:
"The facts are ICE is targeting the worst of the worst – including murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, and rapists. Seventy per cent of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or have pending charges in the US – that doesn’t even include known or suspected terrorists, foreign gang members, convictions for violent crimes in foreign countries, or Interpol notices."
It’s the weasel words “have pending charges” that allow McLaughlin to pretend her numbers make sense. However, pending charges are not the same as a criminal record, no matter how much the administration claims otherwise. In reality, 70% of those currently in detention have no record, period.
Meanwhile, as ICE thugs continue to terrorize American cities, the Trump administration still continues to insist that ICE is doing the most dangerous work imaginable. Here’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with a breathless media hit about California’s passage of a law banning ICE from wearing masks:
"And every time I’m in a room with our law enforcement officers, I’m talking to them before they go out on our streets. I’m just overwhelmed by the fact that all of these young men and women have families, that they all want to go home to their families at night, too. And that people like Gavin Newsom are making it much more dangerous for them just to go do their jobs."
You know who doesn’t get to go home to their families at night? Those hundreds of South Korean workers who were detained in a mass arrest at the Georgia Hyundai factory. The veterans who served their country honorably don’t get to go home either.
Chief White House ghoul and apparent sexual matador Stephen Miller set a quota of 3,000 arrests per day. That number was always going to include whoever ICE could find. Indeed, it was Miller who, at the start of ICE’s occupation of Los Angeles, whined that ICE wasn’t doing enough to hit those numbers.
“Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?” he screamed at ICE officials.
The administration has empowered ICE agents to detain whoever they want without any real consequences for getting it wrong. They want easy arrests and soft targets, so they’re going to keep racially profiling and arresting random Latino people.
At root, this is cowardice, all the way from Trump and Noem down to the lowliest, newest ICE agent dragging someone out of a car or accosting them as they leave immigration court.
Bringing the whole weight of the state down on people who’ve done nothing wrong is a pathetic show of strength, a bully puffing out his chest. Trump and his minions should be ashamed, but they’re not capable of it.
Daily Kos Staff
Friday, Sep. 26, 2025 at 3:30:05p CDT
New numbers from the Trump administration show what we’ve known all along: The largest number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention are people with no criminal record.
The Guardian reports that of the 59,762 people in ICE detention facilities, 16,523 of those arrested by ICE agents have no criminal record while 15,725 do, and 13,767 have pending charges. In a June report, NBC News found that the most common crimes were traffic offenses and immigration violations. You’ll note those numbers don’t add up to the 59,762 total. That’s because there are also people in ICE facilities who were not arrested by ICE.
As much as President Donald Trump and his lackeys keep bragging about all the undocumented violent criminals they’ve taken off the streets, it turns out that ICE actually sucks at that. Last fall, ICE reported it knew of 13,099 undocumented people convicted of homicide and 15,811 convicted of sexual assault, but were not in custody.
The June NBC News report found that, from Oct. 1, 2024, through May 31 of this year, ICE arrested 752 people with homicide convictions and 1,693 with sexual assault convictions. So, of the group that the administration hypes as the most dangerous undocumented people out there, ICE has detained 6% of known murderers and 11% of those convicted of sexual assault.
Instead of arresting murderers, ICE is scooping up tamale vendors who have been here 20 years, day laborers in Home Depot parking lots, pastors, and old women.
In response to The Guardian’s report, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin just went with the same rote language the administration always uses about how great they are and how dangerous immigrants are:
"The facts are ICE is targeting the worst of the worst – including murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, and rapists. Seventy per cent of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or have pending charges in the US – that doesn’t even include known or suspected terrorists, foreign gang members, convictions for violent crimes in foreign countries, or Interpol notices."
It’s the weasel words “have pending charges” that allow McLaughlin to pretend her numbers make sense. However, pending charges are not the same as a criminal record, no matter how much the administration claims otherwise. In reality, 70% of those currently in detention have no record, period.
Meanwhile, as ICE thugs continue to terrorize American cities, the Trump administration still continues to insist that ICE is doing the most dangerous work imaginable. Here’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with a breathless media hit about California’s passage of a law banning ICE from wearing masks:
"And every time I’m in a room with our law enforcement officers, I’m talking to them before they go out on our streets. I’m just overwhelmed by the fact that all of these young men and women have families, that they all want to go home to their families at night, too. And that people like Gavin Newsom are making it much more dangerous for them just to go do their jobs."
You know who doesn’t get to go home to their families at night? Those hundreds of South Korean workers who were detained in a mass arrest at the Georgia Hyundai factory. The veterans who served their country honorably don’t get to go home either.
Chief White House ghoul and apparent sexual matador Stephen Miller set a quota of 3,000 arrests per day. That number was always going to include whoever ICE could find. Indeed, it was Miller who, at the start of ICE’s occupation of Los Angeles, whined that ICE wasn’t doing enough to hit those numbers.
“Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?” he screamed at ICE officials.
The administration has empowered ICE agents to detain whoever they want without any real consequences for getting it wrong. They want easy arrests and soft targets, so they’re going to keep racially profiling and arresting random Latino people.
At root, this is cowardice, all the way from Trump and Noem down to the lowliest, newest ICE agent dragging someone out of a car or accosting them as they leave immigration court.
Bringing the whole weight of the state down on people who’ve done nothing wrong is a pathetic show of strength, a bully puffing out his chest. Trump and his minions should be ashamed, but they’re not capable of it.
