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 458,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and July 31, 2025, of which over 329,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and July 31, 2025, these 329,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 581,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,075 homicide charges; 75,743 assault charges; 10,352 burglary charges; 67,981 drug charges; 1,450 kidnapping charges; 29,597 theft charges; 45,633 obstructing police charges; 3,320 robbery charges; 7,430 sexual assault charges; 8,437 sexual offense charges; and 7,313 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 216,000 convictions including 554 homicide convictions; 27,981 assault convictions; 5,324 burglary convictions; 27,895 drug convictions; 423 kidnapping convictions; 11,193 theft convictions; 17,665 obstructing police convictions; 1,915 robbery convictions; 3,658 sexual assault convictions; 3,832 sexual offense convictions; and 2,370 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 34,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 11,000 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 July 31, 2025, these 11,000 individual identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, but who were not previously identified through Secure Communities, were charged with more than 11,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 153 homicide charges; 1,508 assault charges; 610 burglary charges; 1,989 drug charges; 70 kidnapping charges; 558 theft charges; 1,093 obstructing police charges; 451 robbery charges; 977 sexual assault charges; 466 sexual offense charges; and 285 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 117 homicide convictions; 884 assault convictions; 386 burglary convictions; 1,094 drug convictions; 39 kidnapping convictions; 300 theft convictions; 484 obstructing police convictions; 329 robbery convictions; 715 sexual assault convictions; 335 sexual offense convictions; and 114 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 July 31, 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 July 31, 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 July 31, 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 458,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and July 31, 2025, of which over 329,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 329,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 790,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,681 homicide charges; 100,479 assault charges; 21,728 burglary charges; 96,185 drug charges; 1,807 kidnapping charges; 45,484 theft charges; 67,201 obstructing police charges; 5,616 robbery charges; 9,942 sexual assault charges; 11,016 sexual offense charges; and 12,084 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 334,000 convictions including 852 homicide convictions; 39,517 assault convictions; 11,009 burglary convictions; 44,244 drug convictions; 559 kidnapping convictions; 19,275 theft convictions; 29,296 obstructing police convictions; 3,080 robbery convictions; 5,099 sexual assault convictions; 5,475 sexual offense convictions; and 4,593 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 34,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 11,000 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 11,000 individuals identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, were charged with more than 49,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,954 homicide charges; 5,977 assault charges; 3,540 burglary charges; 7,176 drug charges; 361 kidnapping charges; 2,821 theft charges; 3,937 obstructing police charges; 2,490 robbery charges; 3,297 sexual assault charges; 1,329 sexual offense charges; and 1,607 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 27,000 convictions including 1,176 homicide convictions; 3,083 assault convictions; 1,944 burglary convictions; 4,141 drug convictions; 165 kidnapping convictions; 1,356 theft convictions; 1,784 obstructing police convictions; 1,686 robbery convictions; 2,167 sexual assault convictions; 842 sexual offense convictions; and 625 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on August 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.