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Fact check: Has ice actually deported any criminals?
Executive Summary
ICE does remove people with criminal convictions: agency reports and press releases show thousands of arrests and removals of noncitizens with criminal records, including serious offenses, while other government data and reporting show a large share of detained or removed people have no or only minor convictions. The evidence supports the simple claim that ICE has deported criminals, but the broader record shows mixed priorities, changing volumes across years, and substantial numbers of non-criminal removals that complicate any single claim about focus or scale [1] [2] [3].
1. How ICE frames its mission: enforcement, removal, and public safety drama
ICE’s own Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) materials present a clear organizational mandate to identify, arrest, detain, and remove noncitizens who represent national security or public safety concerns, and the agency routinely highlights criminal removals in its statistics and releases [4]. ICE’s public reporting and annual summaries state enforcement priorities and tallies, with FY2024 materials claiming tens of thousands of removals of people with criminal convictions or pending charges—a record level since 2015—underscoring an institutional emphasis on deporting those with criminal records [1]. These official data and statements provide the baseline factual claim that deporting individuals with criminal convictions is an active part of ICE’s work, but they do not by themselves quantify the full mix of enforcement actions or reveal operational trade-offs between criminal and non-criminal cases [4].
2. Concrete examples: headlines and named removals that demonstrate criminal deportations
Multiple recent ICE press releases and news items list individual removals that are unambiguous examples of criminal deportations: the agency publicized the removal of a Guatemalan wanted for reckless harm charges, and a 2025 release described the deportation of gang members, pedophiles, and drug traffickers who were ordered removed by federal immigration judges [5] [6]. Historical and recurring operations cited by ICE and archived releases report the arrest of thousands during targeted operations—one 2020 operation reported over 2,000 arrests with roughly 85% having criminal convictions or pending charges, while a 2015 nationwide operation similarly cited over 2,000 convicted criminals arrested [3] [7]. These named cases and batch tallies show that ICE does not merely detain administrative immigration cases but has actively pursued and removed people with serious criminal allegations [6] [5].
3. Numbers that complicate the narrative: many detained or removed are non-criminal or minor offenders
Federal data and independent tracking introduce nuance: ICE’s detention snapshots show a large detained population—nearly 60,000 at one point—with 71.5% reportedly having no criminal convictions, indicating that the majority of people in custody at that time were not convicted criminals and that many removals involve immigration status rather than criminal records [2]. Media tracking and DHS tallies also show large aggregate removal counts—DHS reported more than two million removals in a recent presidential term window, including voluntary self-deportations—highlighting both the breadth of immigration enforcement and that many removals occur outside the narrow category of criminal deportations [8]. This divergence between high-profile criminal removals and the substantial non-criminal caseload means the truthful claim must be qualified: ICE does deport criminals, but it also detains and removes many who lack criminal convictions [2] [8].
4. Trends and timing: rising removals, shifting priorities, and how dates matter
ICE and DHS data show periods of increasing removal volumes and spikes tied to policy shifts; for example, ICE’s FY2024 reporting described the highest number of removals of people with criminal convictions since 2015, and quarterly statistics showed a near 70% increase in removals compared with a prior quarter, indicating recent upticks in deportations that included many with criminal histories [9] [1]. Independent trackers and news outlets quantified arrests of people convicted of serious crimes through mid-2025, indicating ongoing operations that target convicted offenders [10]. At the same time, archived releases from earlier years reflect longstanding enforcement programs; interpreting any single headline therefore requires attention to publication dates and to whether figures represent arrests, removals, voluntary departures, or detention counts [7] [3].
5. Competing narratives and likely agendas: how to read the evidence without bias
Proponents of strict interior enforcement emphasize the named removals and agency tallies of criminal convictions to argue ICE protects public safety; those critical of enforcement point to detention snapshots showing a majority without convictions and to large numbers of voluntary removals to argue resources and priorities are misapplied [6] [2] [8]. ICE press releases and DHS statements naturally highlight criminal removals and operational successes, which suits an institutional agenda; independent media and statistical snapshots complicate that message by showing the proportion of non-criminal cases and the administrative nature of many removals [4] [10]. The combined evidence supports the factual claim that ICE has deported criminals, while also requiring acknowledgment that enforcement outcomes are broader than criminal deportation alone and that interpretation often reflects differing policy priorities [1] [2].