Trump vowed to prioritize deporting hardened criminals. Data suggests only 6% of known undocumented immigrant murderers have been caught
A year ago, the acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement head delivered data to Congress stating the agency knew of 13,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who were convicted of murder but had yet to be arrested.
Since then, President Donald Trump's administration has vowed to arrest 'the worst of the worst' and carry out the 'largest deportation program in American history.' But new data shows that ICE has arrested just 752 people convicted of homicide and 1,693 people convicted of sexual assault from October 1 to May 31, according to NBC News.
That means ICE has, at most, arrested 6 percent of undocumented immigrants known to have been convicted of homicide and 11 percent of undocumented immigrants known to have been convicted of sexual assault, NBC News reports.
Representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, told NBC News he has requested data from ICE on the number of people convicted of violent crimes who have been detained. Gonzales said he hopes ICE focuses on arresting convicted violent criminals moving forward.
'I want them doing that type of work, not raiding Home Depot and, you know, fending off violent riots,' Gonzales said.
'One can say, you know, 'I deported 1,000 people today,' and someone can say, 'Wow, you're doing such a great job,'' he added. 'Well, if, of those thousand people, none of them are convicted criminals ... have you truly made our community any more safe than it was before?'
Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called the data NBC News used 'inaccurate.'
'The premise of your question relies on inaccurate data. Secretary [Kristi] Noem has unleashed the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to target the worst of the worst — including gang members, murderers, and rapists,' McLaughlin told NBC News. 'In President Trump's first 100 days, 75% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.'
ICE agents detained an estimated 185,000 people between October 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025. One-third of those detained have a criminal conviction, but 75 percent of that group have convictions for non-serious crimes, such as traffic offenses, according to a data analysis by The Independent. Just eight percent of the people ICE detained during that period were convicted of a serious crime.
The number of people in ICE detention under Trump has also reached the highest level in years, and could be on track to set a record, The Independent previously reported. An estimated 56,397 people were in ICE detention as of June 15, surpassing the previous record of 55,654 people, which was set during Trump's first term in 2019. Since Trump took office in January, the number of non-criminal ICE arrests has also jumped 800 percent.
Trump's administration has also 'de-legalized' more than 1 million immigrants after stripping humanitarian protections that allowed tens of thousands to live in the U.S. and sending ICE agents to arrest people showing up to court for their pending immigration cases, The Independent previously reported.
Communities across the country have been staging protests against Trump's mass deportation program in recent weeks. Los Angeles made headlines earlier this month as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest ICE raids in the area.
Hundreds of people were arrested, and Trump sent in both the National Guard and the Marines to quell the demonstrations, despite protests from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
The Independent has contacted the DHS and Gonzales for comment.
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