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 June 30, 2026, of which over 335,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and June 30, 2026, these 335,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 601,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,131 homicide charges; 78,712 assault charges; 10,631 burglary charges; 70,343 drug charges; 1,535 kidnapping charges; 30,609 theft charges; 47,761 obstructing police charges; 3,414 robbery charges; 7,680 sexual assault charges; 8,699 sexual offense charges; and 7,641 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 228,000 convictions including 621 homicide convictions; 29,735 assault convictions; 5,532 burglary convictions; 29,253 drug convictions; 454 kidnapping convictions; 11,809 theft convictions; 18,594 obstructing police convictions; 2,011 robbery convictions; 3,973 sexual assault convictions; 4,042 sexual offense convictions; and 2,524 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 35,000 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 June 30, 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 156 homicide charges; 1,662 assault charges; 635 burglary charges; 2,109 drug charges; 77 kidnapping charges; 596 theft charges; 1,188 obstructing police charges; 473 robbery charges; 1,024 sexual assault charges; 496 sexual offense charges; and 313 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 120 homicide convictions; 962 assault convictions; 400 burglary convictions; 1,145 drug convictions; 41 kidnapping convictions; 324 theft convictions; 515 obstructing police convictions; 350 robbery convictions; 744 sexual assault convictions; 356 sexual offense convictions; and 124 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 June 30, 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 June 30, 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 June 30, 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 June 30, 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 814,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,738 homicide charges; 103,525 assault charges; 22,055 burglary charges; 98,653 drug charges; 1,894 kidnapping charges; 46,556 theft charges; 69,415 obstructing police charges; 5,711 robbery charges; 10,201 sexual assault charges; 11,400 sexual offense charges; and 12,436 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 346,000 convictions including 919 homicide convictions; 41,311 assault convictions; 11,235 burglary convictions; 45,653 drug convictions; 590 kidnapping convictions; 19,909 theft convictions; 30,287 obstructing police convictions; 3,175 robbery convictions; 5,419 sexual assault convictions; 5,696 sexual offense convictions; and 4,761 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 35,000 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 1,956 homicide charges; 6,135 assault charges; 3,564 burglary charges; 7,293 drug charges; 367 kidnapping charges; 2,866 theft charges; 4,033 obstructing police charges; 2,511 robbery charges; 3,342 sexual assault charges; 1,358 sexual offense charges; and 1,635 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 27,000 convictions including 1,179 homicide convictions; 3,161 assault convictions; 1,958 burglary convictions; 4,189 drug convictions; 168 kidnapping convictions; 1,384 theft convictions; 1,816 obstructing police convictions; 1,706 robbery convictions; 2,196 sexual assault convictions; 861 sexual offense convictions; and 635 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on July 1, 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.