President Donald Trump聽聽to deport 鈥渢he worst of the worst.鈥澛犅爏peaks at聽聽about the countless 鈥渄angerous criminals鈥 鈥 among them murderers, rapists and child predators 鈥 from around the world he says entered the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration. He promises to expel millions of migrants in the聽聽in American history to protect law-abiding citizens from the violent threats he says they pose.
But government data tells a different story.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement聽聽since Trump began his second term, with聽聽across the country. Yet the majority of people detained by ICE have no criminal convictions. Of those who do, relatively few were convicted of high-level crimes.
鈥淭here's a deep disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality,鈥 said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-faculty director of the UCLA Law School's Center for Immigration Law and Policy. 鈥淭his administration, and also in the prior Trump administration, they consistently claim to be going after the worst of the worst and just talk about immigration enforcement as though it is all about going after violent, dangerous people with extensive criminal histories. And yet overwhelmingly, it's people they're targeting for arrest who have no criminal history of any kind.鈥

A volunteer sets up an art installation July 3聽at Olvera Street Plaza in Los Angeles that displays names and faces of people who were detained, deported or sent to offshore camps during ICE raids in Southern California.
By the numbers
The latest聽聽show that as of June 29, ICE detained聽57,861 people, 41,495 鈥 or 71.7% 鈥 of whom had no criminal convictions. That includes 14,318 people with pending criminal charges, and 27,177 who are聽聽but have no known criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.
Each detainee is assigned a threat level by ICE on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 being the highest. Those without a criminal record are classified as having 鈥渘o ICE threat level.鈥 As of June 23, the latest data available, 84% of people detained at 201 facilities nationwide were not given a threat level, 7% were graded as a level 1 threat, 4% were level 2 and 5% were level 3.
鈥淧resident Trump has justified this immigration agenda in part by making false claims that migrants are driving violent crime in the United States, and that's just simply not true,鈥 said Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior director of the justice program at the Brennan Center for Justice. 鈥淭here's no research and evidence that supports his claims.鈥
Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, called the assessment that ICE isn't targeting immigrants with a criminal record 鈥渇alse" and said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem directed ICE 鈥渢o target the worst of the worst 鈥 including gang members, murderers, and rapists.鈥 She counted detainees with convictions, as well as those with pending charges, as 鈥渃riminal illegal aliens.鈥
As of June 14, nonpublic data聽聽shows 65% of the more than 204,000 people ICE聽processed since the start of fiscal year 2025, which began Oct. 1, 2024, had no criminal convictions. Of those with convictions, only 6.9% committed a violent crime, while 53% committed nonviolent crimes that fell into three main categories: immigration, traffic or vice crimes.

A person is detained by federal agents July 3 outside an immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building in New York.聽
聽shot up at the end of May after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller聽聽of 3,000 arrests a day, up from 650 a day in the first five months of Trump鈥檚 second term. ICE arrested nearly 30% more people in May than in April, according to the聽. That number rose again in June, by another 28%.
The Cato Institute found that between Feb. 8 and May 17, the daily average of 鈥渘oncriminals鈥 processed into the system ranged from 421 to 454. In the following two weeks at the end of May, that number rose to 678 and then to 927 in the period from June 1 through 14.
鈥淲hat you're seeing is this huge increase in funding to detain people, remove people, enforce immigration laws," Eisen said. "And what we're seeing is that a lot of these people back to sort of the original question you asked, these are not people who are dangerous.鈥

Demonstrators gather July 11 in Oxnard, Calif.,聽during a protest in reaction to recent immigration raids.
Administration doubles down
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said the administration is intensely focused on rooting out unvetted criminals who are in the country illegally.
Referring to raids Thursday, she wrote in an email, "the Administration conducted a successful operation rescuing children from labor exploitation at a marijuana facility in California, and continued arresting the worst of the worst 鈥 including murderers, pedophiles, gang members, and rapists.鈥
"Any suggestion that the Administration is not laser focused on these dangerous criminals is flat out wrong,鈥 she added.
An ICE raid at a Camarillo cannabis farm turned violent as federal agents clashed with protesters. Agents deployed tear gas and smoke canisters.
While most ICE detainees are not convicted criminals, there are detainees who committed serious crimes. The administration recently聽聽on five high-level offenders who were arrested.
During his campaign, Trump highlighted several cases where immigrants in the country illegally were arrested for horrific crimes. Among them: The killing of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was slain last year by a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally. Jose Ibarra was found guilty of murder and other crimes in Riley鈥檚 February 2024 killing and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ibarra聽.
Trump in January聽聽the Laken Riley Act,聽聽the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes.

A restaurant patron watches July 11 as demonstrators march聽in Oxnard, Calif.,聽during a protest in reaction to recent immigration raids.
What studies find
, however, that immigrants are not driving violent crime in the U.S. and that they actually commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans.
A 2023 working paper from the聽, for example, reported that immigrants for 150 years had lower incarceration rates than people born in the U.S. In fact, the rates declined since 1960 鈥 according to the paper, immigrants were 60% less likely to be incarcerated.
Experts say the false rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration creates real harm.
鈥淚t makes people in immigrant communities feel targeted and marginalized,鈥 Arulanantham said. 鈥淚t creates more political and social space for hate in all its forms, including hate crime against immigrant communities.鈥
Eisen noted the impact extends to other communities as well.
鈥淎ll Americans should want safe and thriving communities," she said, "and this idea that the president of the United States is making misleading statements about the truth and distorting reality is not the way to deliver public safety."
Trump tours an immigration detention center dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz'

President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others tour "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, on聽Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla.

Protesters march Tuesday, July 1, 2025, outside the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport where President Donald Trump appeared in Ochopee, Fla.

President Donald Trump tours "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla.

Protesters march Tuesday, July 1, 2025, outside the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport where President Donald Trump appeared in Ochopee, Fla.

President Donald Trump listens to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on聽Tuesday, July 1, 2025, as they and others tour "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, in Ochopee, Fla.

Protesters march Tuesday, July 1, 2025, outside the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport where President Donald Trump appeared in Ochopee, Fla.

President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others tour "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla.

A truck drives past the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport where President Donald Trump appeared Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks Tuesday, July 1, 2025, during a roundtable at "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in Ochopee, Fla.

President Donald Trump talks with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis during a roundtable Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in Ochopee, Fla.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others tour "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla.