More than 13,000 immigrants who have been convicted of homicide, either in the United States or abroad, are currently living freely in the U.S. outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. This information was provided to Congress by ICE, with the individuals being part of the agency’s “non-detained” docket. This means that although ICE has some information on them and they have pending immigration cases, they are not currently in detention for various reasons such as not being prioritized or ICE not being able to find them. The data was sent to Congress in response to a request from Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas.
It is not clear when the first of these 13,000 individuals crossed into the U.S., but two law enforcement officials familiar with the data stated that many of them crossed into the country under previous administrations, including that of former President Donald Trump. Trump himself used the data to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign stop in Michigan, calling attention to the fact that dangerous criminals are free to roam in the country. The White House has not yet commented on the data, with one official stating that the release of the information came as a surprise.
The 13,099 immigrants who have been convicted of homicide and are currently living in the U.S. may have never had contact with ICE. Some of them may have crossed the border and were released because Border Patrol lacked information on their criminal history, while others may have been released by state and local officials without ICE being notified. This is particularly common in sanctuary cities, where individuals may be released after serving their time without any involvement from immigration authorities. ICE then has the challenge of locating these individuals in order to detain and deport them.
ICE prioritizes the arrest of migrants who have been convicted of serious crimes, such as homicide, but limited resources make it difficult to locate and detain all of them. Currently, there are over 7.5 million immigrants on ICE’s “non-detained” docket, meaning they have pending immigration cases but are not in detention. The Acting ICE Director mentioned that more local jurisdictions are starting to rethink their sanctuary policies due to the increased attention on migrant crime. NBC News accompanied ICE agents in Maryland earlier this year during the arrest of a man convicted of murder in Colombia and a man convicted of attempted murder in El Salvador. Agents explained the significant amount of effort and manpower required to locate and arrest convicted criminals who are living freely in the U.S.
