In his return to the White House, President Donald Trump has reignited his tough-on-immigration stance, vowing to deport violent offenders fast. His rhetoric often paints a dire picture of the U.S. being overrun by dangerous criminals who entered the country illegally under President Biden. Trump has promised what he calls the largest deportation campaign in American history — a move he claims is necessary to keep American families safe from violent threats.
At public rallies and campaign events, Trump describes his targets as “the worst of the worst,” singling out murderers, rapists, gang members, and child predators. His administration asserts that the goal is to remove violent offenders fast, restore law and order, and reclaim America’s safety.
However, recently released government data paints a more complex picture.
Who Is Actually Being Detained?
As Trump promises to remove violent offenders fast, data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tells a different story. As of June 29, 2025, ICE held 57,861 detainees — but 41,495 of them, or nearly 72%, had no criminal convictions. These included 14,318 people with pending charges and 27,177 with no known charges or convictions whatsoever.
This stark disconnect between political rhetoric and statistical reality is raising questions about the true priorities of the current deportation campaign. If the administration is truly aiming to deport violent offenders fast, why are most detainees not violent or even criminal offenders?
According to ICE’s own threat level classifications, 84% of detainees had no designated threat level as of June 23, and only 7% were classified as Level 1 — the category reserved for those considered the most dangerous.
Despite the administration’s claims, this data challenges the narrative that immigration enforcement is strictly about removing violent offenders fast.
Disparity Between Policy and Practice
Legal experts and civil rights advocates argue that Trump’s public messaging misleads the American public. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-faculty director of UCLA Law School’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy, says, “There’s a deep disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality.”
The claim to deport violent offenders fast becomes questionable when the majority of those arrested have clean records. According to Arulanantham, both the current and previous Trump administrations have used language suggesting that deportation efforts are exclusively aimed at dangerous criminals, when in practice, they are far more indiscriminate.
Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice, concurs. “President 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.”
Despite the promise to remove violent offenders fast, ICE arrests data shows a disproportionate focus on immigrants with no criminal history.
Arrest Quotas Drive Numbers
The number of ICE arrests has skyrocketed since Trump began his second term. In May, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly gave ICE a quota of 3,000 arrests per day — a massive jump from the earlier average of 650. The result was a 30% increase in arrests from April to May and another 28% rise from May to June.
But while the volume of arrests has increased, the share of non-criminals taken into custody has grown too. The Cato Institute found that between February and mid-May, the daily average number of noncriminals processed ranged from 421 to 454. By early June, that number had ballooned to 927.
This indicates that instead of prioritizing the removal of violent offenders fast, ICE is sweeping up thousands who pose little or no threat to public safety.
Redefining “Criminal”
To justify the campaign, DHS officials have broadened the definition of “criminal.” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, defended the administration’s actions by counting immigrants with pending charges alongside those with convictions. This way, even someone with no proven guilt can be labeled a “criminal illegal alien.”
This approach allows the administration to claim it is removing violent offenders fast, even if many detainees have not committed any violent act — or even been convicted of any crime at all.
Nonpublic data obtained by the Cato Institute supports this criticism. Of the 204,000 individuals processed by ICE since October 2024, 65% had no criminal convictions. Of those who did, only 6.9% were guilty of violent crimes. The majority were involved in immigration, traffic, or vice offenses.
Highlighting Isolated Tragedies
Trump has repeatedly pointed to specific tragedies to justify the urgent need to deport violent offenders fast. One such case is the 2024 murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student killed by a Venezuelan immigrant. The incident drew national attention and spurred the Laken Riley Act, signed by Trump in January. This law requires the detention of undocumented immigrants accused of theft or violent crimes.
While such cases are deeply tragic, experts caution against using them as the basis for broad policy decisions. “These isolated but horrific crimes don’t represent the broader immigrant population,” Eisen noted.
Statistical evidence suggests the exact opposite of what Trump is asserting in his push to deport violent offenders fast.
Immigrants and Crime: What the Data Shows
Contrary to Trump’s claims, multiple studies have found that immigrants — legal or undocumented — are not more likely to commit violent crimes. In fact, the opposite is true. A 2023 National Bureau of Economic Research paper reported that immigrants have had consistently lower incarceration rates than U.S.-born citizens for the last 150 years.
The research shows that immigrants are about 60% less likely to be incarcerated, and those numbers have been steadily decreasing since 1960.
In this context, the administration’s pledge to remove violent offenders fast rings hollow, with enforcement measures sweeping up thousands of non-threatening individuals.
Impact on Communities and Trust
The consequences of this rhetoric go beyond detention centers. Arulanantham warns that portraying immigrants as threats damages the social fabric of America. “It creates more political and social space for hate in all its forms, including hate crime against immigrant communities.”
By promising to deport violent offenders fast while detaining mostly peaceful migrants, the administration risks creating a culture of fear and marginalization. This affects not only immigrants but all Americans who believe in justice and due process.
Eisen adds, “All Americans should want safe and thriving communities, and this idea that the president is distorting reality is not the way to deliver public safety.”
A Call for Truth and Accountability
The promise to deport violent offenders fast resonates with many Americans concerned about public safety. But for policy to be effective and just, it must be based on facts — not fear-driven narratives.
The data shows a gap between what is being said and what is being done. While the Trump administration claims to be laser-focused on violent offenders fast, the numbers suggest a broad, sweeping enforcement strategy that disproportionately affects noncriminals.
As immigration continues to be a major talking point in national politics, voters and lawmakers must ask themselves: Are we building a safer America — or just creating scapegoats?