Which criminals have been recently deported by ICE?
Executive summary
Recent public records and press releases show ICE has deported a mix of convicted violent offenders and lower‑level or non‑convicted migrants: the Department of Homeland Security has foregrounded named “worst of the worst” cases—murderers, sex offenders, gang members and fraudsters—while independent data and advocacy groups report that a large and growing share of removals and detentions involve people with no criminal convictions [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. Who DHS and ICE spotlight as “criminals” recently deported
DHS and ICE have publicly named individual cases to illustrate enforcement results: DHS listed Yorvis Michel Carrascal Campo as a Tren de Aragua gang member charged with murder, racketeering and drug trafficking arrested in Colorado Springs [1], and announced arrests of convicted offenders such as Luis Miguel Gonzalez‑Castillo for aggravated sexual assault of a child, Victor Guerrero for fraud and drug offenses, and Angel Marin‑Cruz for indecent liberties with a child [2]; DHS also published names like Jose Alfredo Uzeta (convicted of dentistry act violation and indecent assault) and Jimmy Harry Velasquez Gomez (repeat sex offender) among those it says were removed [1]. These named cases confirm that ICE is deporting individuals with serious criminal convictions and that DHS is intentionally publicizing such examples to frame enforcement outcomes [1] [2].
2. The scale DHS claims versus independent tallies
DHS messaging framed 2025–2026 enforcement as historic, with press statements touting “more than 670,000 removals” and millions of self‑deportations as part of a broader “worst of the worst” narrative [1] [5]. Independent trackers paint a more granular picture: the Deportation Data Project finds deportations from within the U.S. surged roughly 4.6‑fold in the first nine months of the current administration’s second term and that arrests quadrupled, but also that many new arrests were of people without criminal convictions [3]. Brookings and TRAC reporting provide alternative aggregate figures and context, noting large numbers removed since January 2025 and flagging tens of thousands newly detained who have no criminal conviction [6] [7].
3. The important caveat: many deportations involve people without convictions
Multiple independent sources document a striking trend: the growth in ICE arrests and detentions is disproportionately among people with no criminal convictions—TRAC reports tens of thousands detained with no conviction and ICE data analyzed by researchers showing the recent detention increase was driven overwhelmingly by people without criminal records [7] [8]. The American Immigration Council warns that detention has been expanded to drive deportations and that by November 2025 more than fourteen people were deported from custody for every one person released, reflecting a system that pressures people in detention to accept removal [4].
4. Conflicting incentives and messaging to watch
DHS and ICE have clear political incentives to emphasize high‑profile criminal removals to bolster claims of public safety gains and to justify expanded detention and enforcement capacity [1] [5]. Conversely, advocacy groups, researchers and oversight organizations emphasize data showing the administration’s enforcement reach now targets many low‑level immigration violators and people without convictions, pointing to detention expansion, increased use of jails, and rising deaths in custody as consequences [3] [4] [9]. Both narratives are supported by documented facts in the sources, which suggests readers should treat DHS’s named criminal examples as valid but not fully representative of the overall composition of removals.
5. What the reporting cannot fully answer
Public DHS press releases and ICE spokes‑materials list selected criminal removals and aggregate tallies but do not provide a comprehensive, case‑by‑case roster of all recently deported individuals or the proportional breakdown by offense for the most recent months; independent projects (Deportation Data Project, TRAC) fill in trends but cannot name every person removed [1] [3] [7]. Therefore, while specific convicted offenders have been publicly deported and highlighted [1] [2], the full universe of “which criminals” ICE has deported recently requires combining agency releases with independent data sources and local court records for a complete accounting—sources provided here document both the named violent offenders and the contrasting reality that many removals involve non‑convicted individuals [1] [3] [7] [4].