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 466,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and March 31, 2026, of which over 335,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and March 31, 2026, these 335,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 598,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,123 homicide charges; 78,243 assault charges; 10,584 burglary charges; 69,982 drug charges; 1,521 kidnapping charges; 30,450 theft charges; 47,381 obstructing police charges; 3,401 robbery charges; 7,639 sexual assault charges; 8,674 sexual offense charges; and 7,587 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 225,000 convictions including 600 homicide convictions; 29,303 assault convictions; 5,461 burglary convictions; 28,945 drug convictions; 444 kidnapping convictions; 11,640 theft convictions; 18,349 obstructing police convictions; 1,987 robbery convictions; 3,895 sexual assault convictions; 3,972 sexual offense convictions; and 2,489 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 March 31, 2026, 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 12,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 155 homicide charges; 1,622 assault charges; 630 burglary charges; 2,070 drug charges; 74 kidnapping charges; 585 theft charges; 1,169 obstructing police charges; 466 robbery charges; 1,011 sexual assault charges; 494 sexual offense charges; and 299 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 119 homicide convictions; 941 assault convictions; 397 burglary convictions; 1,132 drug convictions; 40 kidnapping convictions; 319 theft convictions; 513 obstructing police convictions; 343 robbery convictions; 735 sexual assault convictions; 354 sexual offense convictions; and 121 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 March 31, 2026, 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 March 31, 2026, 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 March 31, 2026.
- 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 466,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and March 31, 2026, of which over 335,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 335,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 811,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,729 homicide charges; 103,056 assault charges; 22,008 burglary charges; 98,292 drug charges; 1,880 kidnapping charges; 46,397 theft charges; 69,034 obstructing police charges; 5,698 robbery charges; 10,161 sexual assault charges; 11,374 sexual offense charges; and 12,382 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 343,000 convictions including 898 homicide convictions; 40,879 assault convictions; 11,163 burglary convictions; 45,344 drug convictions; 580 kidnapping convictions; 19,745 theft convictions; 30,040 obstructing police convictions; 3,151 robbery convictions; 5,341 sexual assault convictions; 5,626 sexual offense convictions; and 4,726 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 50,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,955 homicide charges; 6,092 assault charges; 3,559 burglary charges; 7,251 drug charges; 365 kidnapping charges; 2,854 theft charges; 4,013 obstructing police charges; 2,504 robbery charges; 3,330 sexual assault charges; 1,357 sexual offense charges; and 1,620 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 27,000 convictions including 1,178 homicide convictions; 3,139 assault convictions; 1,955 burglary convictions; 4,175 drug convictions; 166 kidnapping convictions; 1,378 theft convictions; 1,814 obstructing police convictions; 1,699 robbery convictions; 2,187 sexual assault convictions; 861 sexual offense convictions; and 631 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on April 2, 2026. 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.