CBS and DHS in a war of numbers over the criminal records of detained illegal immigrants

CBS provoked an earthquake after asserting that barely 14% of illegal immigrants detained by ICE had records for violent crimes. The source was a Department of Homeland Security document (DHS) to which they had had exclusive access. However, the agency, through the word of its spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin assured that those data are out of context and that the Trump Administration is fulfilling its promise to arrest "the worst of the worst."

In a post uploaded to her X account following the release of the news, McLaughlin pointed out that serious crimes such as drug or human trafficking are classified as "non-violent crimes."

"Drug trafficking, Distribution of child pornography, burglary, fraud, DUI, embezzlement, solicitation of a minor, human smuggling are all categorized as 'non violent crimes.' Like we said, ~70% of those illegal aliens arrested under President Trump and Secretary Noem have pending criminal charges or prior convictions."

Distribution of child pornography, gang membership...."non-violent offenses," according to DHS

Subsequently, DHS itself began sharing profiles of several of the detainees considered "nonviolent" according to statistics to abound on their dangerousness. Among them, they showed members of violent gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha 13 or the Tren de Aragua:

"Horrendous crimes such as the distribution of child pornography, drug trafficking, burglary, fraud, human smuggling, even being in a gang like MS13 or Tren de Aragua or being a known or suspected terrorist are considered 'non-violent crimes' by the media.

Take Antonio Israel Lazo-Quintanilla who was wanted back in El Salvador for aggravated HOMICIDE, extortion, possession of drugs, and a litany of other felonies. However, his only crime in the U.S. was driving without a license."

Unaccounted for crimes in his home country

In addition, the DHS noted that only crimes committed domestically are counted, so violent crimes in their home countries would not be counted for inclusion in the violent felon listing.

"No one can reasonably consider MS-13 member Edward Hernandez a non-criminal just because, despite his FIVE savage murders back in El Salvador, he has no convictions in the US."

CBS data, a torpedo to the DHS waterline

The quick and belligerent response of the DHS is not surprising, since CBS exclusive news was a real torpedo to the DHS waterline in one of the star measures of the administration, such as the fight against illegal immigration and crime.

According to figures obtained by the network, ICE has detained some 393,000 illegal immigrants between Jan. 21, 2025, Trump's first full day back in power, and Jan. 31 of this year. Of those, "ICE classified around 229,000 of those arrested as "criminal aliens," because they had criminal charges or convictions. About 153,000 of the arrests were categorized as "other administrative arrests," or detentions of immigrants lacking any criminal record. Nearly 11,000 of the arrests were "criminal arrests" of noncitizens taken into ICE custody due to new criminal allegations, like interfering with operations."

"Nearly 60% of people detained by ICE in the last year had criminal charges or convictions"

The document accessed by CBS notes that "ICE has dramatically increased arrests since Mr. Trump's return to office. Nearly 60% of ICE arrestees over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, the document indicates. But among that population, the majority of the criminal charges or convictions are not for violent crimes."

Moreover, the network insists that "for example, while Mr. Trump and his aides often talk about immigration officials targeting murderers, rapists and gangsters, the internal data indicate that less than 2% of those arrested by ICE over the past year had homicide or sexual assault charges or convictions. Another 2% of those taken into ICE custody were accused of being gang members."

"The document lists 2,100 arrests of those with homicide charges or convictions; 2,700 arrests of those with robbery offenses; and 5,400 arrests involving individuals charged with or convicted of sexual assault. Another 43,000 arrestees are listed as having assault charges or convictions. About 1,100 had kidnapping charges or convictions and 350 had arson offenses listed."

Added together, the number of ICE arrests involving individuals charged with or convicted of the aforementioned violent crimes represents around 13.9% of all arrests."