Fact-checking Trump's migrant murderers claims

Former President Donald Trump has been tossing out some eye-popping figures for how many illegal migrants with criminal convictions he says Vice President Kamala Harris has allowed into the country on her watch.

But the Department of Homeland Security says the data is being "misrepresented."

Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas, in March requested figures from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the number of noncitizens charged with crimes and have been released into the country. He received the figures on Wednesday in a letter from ICE Deputy Director Patrick J. Lechleitner and on Friday posted them on X, formerly Twitter.

“As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket -- 13,099 criminally convicted MURDERS!” the congressman posted.

Trump posted some of the numbers on his Truth Social platform on Friday as Harris was touring the southern border.

"Kamala should immediately cancel her News Conference because it was just revealed that 13,000 convicted murderers entered our Country during her three and a half year period as Border Czar," Trump wrote. "Also currently in our Country because of her are 15,811 migrants convicted of rape and sexual assault."

He repeated the allegations in rallies in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania over the weekend, saying, "That's over 647,572 migrant criminals for Kamala set loose to rape, pillage, plunder and kill the people in the United States of America."

Some of the figures in Lechleitner's letter to Gonzalez: 425,431 non-detained, non-citizens who are convicted criminals, including more than 15,000 convicted of sexual assault, more than 14,000 burglars and more than 13,000 convicted of murder.

But most of those 425,000 convicted criminals were already on ICE's radar before the Biden administration took office. According to ICE's 2023 budget overview document, as of June 5, 2021, less than five months into the Biden administration, “there were 405,786 convicted criminal noncitizens on the Non-Detained Docket.” More than 368,000 convicted criminals were on the non-detained docket in August of 2016, according to a 2016 DHS Inspector General report, five months before Trump took office,

The numbers, according to a former chief of staff for ICE under the Obama and Biden administrations, are over a long period of time.

"It’s over a decade long period, and distorts the fact that these people are potentially not in ICE custody, but in the detention and custody of other Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies," Jason P. Houser texted to ABC News. "If you look at data released by the past three administrations and compare, you see clearly that these numbers are being spun and distorted by Congressman Gonzales in what seems to be an attempt to put 40 years of failed immigration policy, and Congressional inaction and on the backs of Federal law enforcement. It’s ridiculous."

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security claimed the letter is being misinterpreted.

“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”

The letter from ICE also says: “We are removing and returning record numbers of migrants who are unable to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States, and prioritizing for removal those who present national security and public safety risks, and recent border crossers. From mid-May 2023 through the end of July 2024, DHS removed or returned more than 893,600 individuals including more than 138,300 individuals in family units. The majority of all individuals encountered at the Southwest Border over the past three years have been removed, returned, or expelled.” All this, the letter states, “Despite the challenges of operating within a broken immigration system, and in the face of an enormous workload and consistently limited funding.”

The ICE letter also says that while “ICE recognizes that some jurisdictions are concerned that cooperating with federal immigration officials will erode trust with immigrant communities and make it harder for local law enforcement to serve those populations,” it adds that ““sanctuary” policies can end up shielding dangerous criminals, who often victimize those same communities.”

John Sandweg, a former general counsel at the Department during the Obama administration, said there are a number of reasons for murderers who are classified in the ICE data as "non detained."

"ICE’s authority to detain is not unlimited. When a foreign country will not allow ICE to return a person, ICE is forced to release that individual as the US Supreme Court has generally called immigration detention at 6 months when there is no likelihood of removal," he said. "As a result, this number is a mixture of individuals who cannot be deported and must be released from ICE custody as a matter of law, as well as other individuals who courts have given limited protection from deportation under the Convention Against Torture, and likely individuals who are in the custody of federal and state authorities."

Former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, who served in the Trump administration, said the Biden administration's prioritizing alternatives to detention are to blame.

"The Biden-Harris Admin has consistently advocated for more alternatives to detention and prioritized the placement of illegal aliens on the non-detained docket over the detention of dangerous aliens," he posted on X.