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 457,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and June 30, 2025, of which over 328,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and June 30, 2025, these 328,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 577,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,065 homicide charges; 75,177 assault charges; 10,312 burglary charges; 67,569 drug charges; 1,436 kidnapping charges; 29,393 theft charges; 45,279 obstructing police charges; 3,301 robbery charges; 7,383 sexual assault charges; 8,390 sexual offense charges; and 7,252 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 215,000 convictions including 552 homicide convictions; 27,774 assault convictions; 5,297 burglary convictions; 27,733 drug convictions; 420 kidnapping convictions; 11,115 theft convictions; 17,533 obstructing police convictions; 1,900 robbery convictions; 3,626 sexual assault convictions; 3,803 sexual offense convictions; and 2,349 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 June 30, 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 152 homicide charges; 1,497 assault charges; 609 burglary charges; 1,985 drug charges; 70 kidnapping charges; 556 theft charges; 1,085 obstructing police charges; 431 robbery charges; 971 sexual assault charges; 463 sexual offense charges; and 284 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 117 homicide convictions; 877 assault convictions; 385 burglary convictions; 1,092 drug convictions; 39 kidnapping convictions; 300 theft convictions; 483 obstructing police convictions; 321 robbery convictions; 711 sexual assault convictions; 332 sexual offense convictions; and 113 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, 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 June 30, 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 June 30, 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 457,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and June 30, 2025, of which over 328,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 328,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 790,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,670 homicide charges; 99,864 assault charges; 21,673 burglary charges; 95,745 drug charges; 1,790 kidnapping charges; 45,249 theft charges; 66,831 obstructing police charges; 5,594 robbery charges; 9,893 sexual assault charges; 11,016 sexual offense charges; and 11,069 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 332,000 convictions including 848 homicide convictions; 39,278 assault convictions; 10,978 burglary convictions; 44,053 drug convictions; 555 kidnapping convictions; 19,181 theft convictions; 29,159 obstructing police convictions; 3,062 robbery convictions; 5,066 sexual assault convictions; 5,444 sexual offense convictions; and 4,565 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; 5,969 assault charges; 3,543 burglary charges; 7,172 drug charges; 364 kidnapping charges; 2,819 theft charges; 3,929 obstructing police charges; 2,470 robbery charges; 3,291 sexual assault charges; 1,326 sexual offense charges; and 1,609 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 27,000 convictions including 1,177 homicide convictions; 3,076 assault convictions; 1,943 burglary convictions; 4,140 drug convictions; 166 kidnapping convictions; 1,355 theft convictions; 1,782 obstructing police convictions; 1,678 robbery convictions; 2,163 sexual assault convictions; 839 sexual offense convictions; and 624 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on July 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.