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 441,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and August 31, 2024, of which over 312,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and August 31, 2024, these 312,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 542,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,006 homicide charges; 69,515 assault charges; 9,736 burglary charges; 63,438 drug charges; 1,277 kidnapping charges; 27,292 theft charges; 42,259 obstructing police charges; 3,093 robbery charges; 6,850 sexual assault charges; 7,882 sexual offense charges; and 6,696 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 199,000 convictions including 503 homicide convictions; 25,222 assault convictions; 4,948 burglary convictions; 26,066 drug convictions; 362 kidnapping convictions; 10,243 theft convictions; 16,506 obstructing police convictions; 1,733 robbery convictions; 3,272 sexual assault convictions; 3,591 sexual offense convictions; and 2,170 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 32,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 10,741 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 August 31, 2024, these 10,741 individual identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, but who were not previously identified through Secure Communities, were charged with more than 10,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 134 homicide charges; 1,296 assault charges; 570 burglary charges; 1,800 drug charges; 57 kidnapping charges; 517 theft charges; 949 obstructing police charges; 376 robbery charges; 834 sexual assault charges; 397 sexual offense charges; and 244 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 5,000 convictions including 104 homicide convictions; 756 assault convictions; 365 burglary convictions; 1,005 drug convictions; 32 kidnapping convictions; 273 theft convictions; 422 obstructing police convictions; 282 robbery convictions; 610 sexual assault convictions; 290 sexual offense convictions; and 101 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 August 31, 2024, 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 August 31, 2024, 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 August 31, 2024.
- 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 441,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and August 31, 2024, of which over 312,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 312,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 750,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,604 homicide charges; 93,704 assault charges; 20,938 burglary charges; 91,188 drug charges; 1,630 kidnapping charges; 42,848 theft charges; 63,436 obstructing police charges; 5,334 robbery charges; 9,328 sexual assault charges; 10,516 sexual offense charges; and 11,359 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 315,000 convictions including 793 homicide convictions; 36,502 assault convictions; 10,555 burglary convictions; 42,137 drug convictions; 496 kidnapping convictions; 18,165 theft convictions; 27,919 obstructing police convictions; 2,868 robbery convictions; 4,699 sexual assault convictions; 5,202 sexual offense convictions; and 4,340 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 32,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 10,741 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 10,741 individuals identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, were charged with more than 48,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,940 homicide charges; 5,796 assault charges; 3,514 burglary charges; 6,994 drug charges; 354 kidnapping charges; 2,784 theft charges; 3,794 obstructing police charges; 2,429 robbery charges; 3,159 sexual assault charges; 1,259 sexual offense charges; and 1,586 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 26,000 convictions including 1,168 homicide convictions; 2,966 assault convictions; 1,927 burglary convictions; 4,050 drug convictions; 159 kidnapping convictions; 1,328 theft convictions; 1,727 obstructing police convictions; 1,647 robbery convictions; 2,066 sexual assault convictions; 796 sexual offense convictions; and 618 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on September 1, 2024. 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.