60% of illegal immigrants detained by ICE in Trump's first year back had criminal records

Of those illegal immigrants who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Donald Trump's first year back in office, it has been revealed that 60 percent of them had been previously charged with or convicted of a crime.

Per CBS News, internal numbers from the Department of Homeland Security, which provides detailed information on the profile of illegal immigrants detained by the agency, 60 percent of those taken into custody have criminal records.

14 percent of those arrested have also been convicted or charged with violent crimes. Charges as well as convictions do not always represent crimes specifically committed. The justice system allows for plea agreements, sometimes bringing down the severity of punishment for crimes committed. For example, an individual may be arrested for assault and drug charges but may take a plea agreement related only to the drug charges in order to avoid a potentially longer prison sentence. 

Additionally, some police departments, as seen in places like Washington, DC, will deal out lesser charges sometimes in an effort to manipulate crime statistics.

A graphic from CBS News displayed the different charges and convictions, but it was unclear from the reporting whether the 60 percent figure only represented those charged with or convicted of crimes in the US. 

If the figures do not count those with criminal records in other countries, that 60 percent figure would likely increase. CBS News led their headline with the 14 percent figure related to violent crime, but violent crime does not include crimes such as drug trafficking, DUI, child pornography charges, among other crimes.

The White House responded to CBS’ report, posting to X, “Fake News. Here's a few crimes categorized as 'non-violent': Drug trafficking, human smuggling, child porn, fraud, DUI, burglary, etc. The article even admits 60% had criminal charges or convictions (though it's actually ~70%). They're CRIMINALS and they're NOT welcome here."