The Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies in Texas participate in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Secure Communities. Participation in Secure Communities enables DHS to work with state and local law enforcement to take custody of individuals who pose a danger to public safety before those individuals are released into our communities. In Texas, Secure Communities begins at the local level when an individual is arrested and booked by a Texas law enforcement officer for a criminal violation of Texas law. The arrested individual’s fingerprints are submitted to the Texas DPS and subsequently to the FBI for criminal history and warrant checks. This same biometric data is also sent to DHS’ IDENT database so that ICE can determine the person’s immigration status and whether the individual is a priority for removal, consistent with the DHS enforcement priorities. The immigration status information is returned to DPS by DHS. The following report is based upon the status indicators provided to the DPS. For the purposes of this report, the term “criminal noncitizens” refers to an individual who has been identified as a noncitizen by DHS and who has been arrested for a state criminal offense, typically a Misdemeanor B or higher, committed in Texas.
Lawful Presence Determined Through Secure Communities
According to DHS status indicators, over 451,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and February 28, 2025, of which over 322,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and February 28, 2025, these 322,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 564,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,043 homicide charges; 73,025 assault charges; 10,096 burglary charges; 65,896 drug charges; 1,371 kidnapping charges; 28,601 theft charges; 44,080 obstructing police charges; 3,214 robbery charges; 7,177 sexual assault charges; 8,189 sexual offense charges; and 7,024 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 208,000 convictions including 533 homicide convictions; 26,670 assault convictions; 5,147 burglary convictions; 27,093 drug convictions; 391 kidnapping convictions; 10,740 theft convictions; 17,084 obstructing police convictions; 1,834 robbery convictions; 3,508 sexual assault convictions; 3,733 sexual offense convictions; and 2,263 weapon convictions.
These figures only count individuals who previously had an encounter with DHS that resulted in their fingerprints being entered into the DHS IDENT database. Foreign nationals who enter the country illegally and avoid detection by DHS but are later arrested by local or state law enforcement for a state offense will not have a DHS response in regard to their lawful status and do not appear in these counts. However, in addition to the Secure Communities program, DHS actively adjudicates the immigration status of individuals incarcerated in the Texas prison system. From 2011 to date, the Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has provided DPS with information on more than 33,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 11,001 of these individuals were not identified through the Secure Communities program at the time of their arrest. DPS does not know the current incarceration status of the individuals identified while they were incarcerated nor when their noncitizen status was initially determined.
Lawful Presence Determined While Incarcerated at TDCJ
Between June 1, 2011 and February 28, 2025, these 11,001 individual identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, but who were not previously identified through Secure Communities, were charged with more than 11,016 criminal offenses which included arrests for 151 homicide charges; 1,437 assault charges; 600 burglary charges; 1,933 drug charges; 65 kidnapping charges; 544 theft charges; 1,041 obstructing police charges; 423 robbery charges; 946 sexual assault charges; 440 sexual offense charges; and 278 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 117 homicide convictions; 836 assault convictions; 380 burglary convictions; 1,062 drug convictions; 35 kidnapping convictions; 290 theft convictions; 457 obstructing police convictions; 313 robbery convictions; 693 sexual assault convictions; 316 sexual offense convictions; and 113 weapon convictions.
Because DPS does not know the date these individuals were identified as illegal while in prison, the count of charges for which this population was arrested between June 1, 2011, and February 28, 2025, does not necessarily align with the size of the population of illegal noncitizens identified while in prison. A more accurate assessment can be seen when examining this population’s entire Texas criminal history and not just for offenses committed during this time period (see the Historical Data section of this report). However, for this report, in order to be consistent with the timeframe utilized to provide counts of arrest and conviction for the population identified through Secure Communities, we have limited the arrest and conviction counts for prison identified illegal noncitizens to the same June 1, 2011, to February 28, 2025, time frame used for individuals identified through Secure Communities.
Report Notes
These figures do not attempt to allege that foreign nationals in the country illegally commit more crimes than other groups. It simply identifies thousands of crimes that should not have occurred and thousands of victims that should not have been victimized because the perpetrator should not be here. It is also important to note that these figures represent the minimum number of crimes associated with criminal illegal noncitizens:
- These figures only count arrests in Texas for state offenses. These individuals may have criminal records in other states.
- These figures only represent offenses and convictions that are associated with arrest events that occurred between June 1, 2011, and February 28, 2025.
- The criminal activity for individuals identified as illegal while in prison is under represented for this time period because they may have been incarcerated during the time frame used in this report.
- These figures do not count federal criminal charges.
- These figures do not include similar data for foreign nationals who are lawfully in the country and commit state criminal offenses.
- Individuals whose lawful presence was determined while in prison may or may not be currently incarcerated.
Historical Data
Because individuals identified as being illegally present in the country may have had a Texas criminal history prior to their immigration status being known to law enforcement, DPS has traditionally published criminal history data for a noncitizen's entire criminal history.
Lawful Presence Determined Through Secure Communities
According to DHS status indicators, over 451,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and February 28, 2025, of which over 322,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 322,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 774,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,645 homicide charges; 97,515 assault charges; 21,410 burglary charges; 93,902 drug charges; 1,722 kidnapping charges; 44,353 theft charges; 65,506 obstructing police charges; 5,488 robbery charges; 9,671 sexual assault charges; 10,847 sexual offense charges; and 11,750 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 325,000 convictions including 826 homicide convictions; 38,087 assault convictions; 10,805 burglary convictions; 43,319 drug convictions; 526 kidnapping convictions; 18,756 theft convictions; 28,635 obstructing police convictions; 2,990 robbery convictions; 4,944 sexual assault convictions; 5,359 sexual offense convictions; and 4,458 weapon convictions.
Lawful Presence Determined While Incarcerated at TDCJ
From 2011 to date, the Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has provided DPS with information on more than 33,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 11,001 of these individuals were not identified through the Secure Communities program at the time of their arrest. DPS does not know the current incarceration status of the individuals identified while they were incarcerated nor when their noncitizen status was initially determined. Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 11,001 individuals identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, were charged with more than 49,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,956 homicide charges; 5,926 assault charges; 3,538 burglary charges; 7,125 drug charges; 362 kidnapping charges; 2,808 theft charges; 3,885 obstructing police charges; 2,467 robbery charges; 3,266 sexual assault charges; 1,303 sexual offense charges; and 1,606 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 27,000 convictions including 1,180 homicide convictions; 3,042 assault convictions; 1,941 burglary convictions; 4,111 drug convictions; 162 kidnapping convictions; 1,344 theft convictions; 1,756 obstructing police convictions; 1,671 robbery convictions; 2,145 sexual assault convictions; 823 sexual offense convictions; and 627 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on March 1, 2025. This data is accurate and true on the date the reports were created. Please be advised that data can change any time after the report was processed.