Immigrants arrested for homicides accounted for fewer than 1% of "at-large" arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the last six years, Axios reports. President-elect Trump has vowed to launch the "largest deportation of criminals in American history" — often focusing on the slaying of Georgia college student Laken Riley by an undocumented immigrant — but data show crimes like homicide and sexual assault feature in only a small fraction of ICE arrests. An Axios review of data for nearly 180,000 ICE at-large arrests broken down by criminal convictions from October 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2023 found that the largest numbers concerned immigration-related offenses (16%); driving under the influence (15%); dangerous drugs (15%), assault (9%) and traffic offenses (9%). Some 3% of the crimes were larceny, 1.7% sexual assault and .7% homicide. ICE "at-large" arrests are those made in public settings as opposed to when ICE picks up someone who's already in jail or prison.
ICE data show that there have been more than 425,000 noncitizen immigrants with criminal convictions in the past 40 years or more. About 13,100 — or 3% — were convicted of homicide, while 15,811 (3.7%) were convicted of sexual assault. Many are imprisoned in federal, state or local facilities and may enter deportation proceedings after serving their sentences. Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt didn't address the disparity in the ICE arrest data and Trump's claims about immigrant crime. She said Trump will conduct "the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history." The federal government has prioritized deporting immigrants with criminal records since the Obama administration said, Amy Maldonado, an immigration lawyer in Michigan. On Thursday, Trump said he was nominating Rodney Scott as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Scott served for almost three decades in the Border Patrol, and as the chief of the agency during the last year of the Trump administration and beginning of the Biden administration. Trump named Caleb Vitello, assistant director of the Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs in ICE, as the agency's new acting director, Politico reports.
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