The Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies in Texas participate in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). Participation in PEP 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, PEP 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 alien” refers to an individual who has been identified as an alien 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 PEP
According to DHS status indicators, over 413,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and August 31, 2023, of which over 287,000 were classified as illegal aliens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and August 31, 2023, these 287,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 485,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 913 homicide charges; 61,119 assault charges; 8,888 burglary charges; 58,215 drug charges; 1065 kidnapping charges; 24,156 theft charges; 38,244 obstructing police charges; 2,775 robbery charges; 6,200 sexual assault charges; 7,174 sexual offense charges; and 5,882 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 181,000 convictions including 451 homicide convictions; 22,577 assault convictions; 4,541 burglary convictions; 24,577 drug convictions; 313 kidnapping convictions; 9,398 theft convictions; 15,335 obstructing police convictions; 1,582 robbery convictions; 2,943 sexual assault convictions; 3,333 sexual offense convictions; and 1,963 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 PEP 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 31,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 10,735 of these individuals were not identified through the PEP 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 alien status was initially determined.
Lawful Presence Determined While Incarcerated at TDCJ
Between June 1, 2011 and August 31, 2023, these 10,735 individual identified as illegal aliens while in prison, but who were not previously identified through PEP, were charged with more than 9,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 132 homicide charges; 1,240 assault charges; 561 burglary charges; 1,761 drug charges; 54 kidnapping charges; 476 theft charges; 884 obstructing police charges; 379 robbery charges; 826 sexual assault charges; 381 sexual offense charges; and 231 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 5,000 convictions including 103 homicide convictions; 739 assault convictions; 362 burglary convictions; 983 drug convictions; 30 kidnapping convictions; 252 theft convictions; 399 obstructing police convictions; 290 robbery convictions; 601 sexual assault convictions; 273 sexual offense convictions; and 95 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 August 31, 2023 does not necessarily align with the size of the population of illegal aliens 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 PEP, we have limited the arrest and conviction counts for prison identified illegal aliens to the same June 1, 2011 to August 31, 2023 time frame used for individuals identified through PEP.
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 aliens:
- 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 August 31, 2023.
- 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 an alien’s entire criminal history.
Lawful Presence Determined Through PEP
According to DHS status indicators, over 413,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and August 31, 2023, of which over 287,000 were classified as illegal aliens by DHS.
Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 287,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 693,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,496 homicide charges; 84,689 assault charges; 19,835 burglary charges; 85,360 drug charges; 1409 kidnapping charges; 39,332 theft charges; 58,920 obstructing police charges; 4,977 robbery charges; 8,640 sexual assault charges; 9,750 sexual offense charges; and 10,425 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 294,000 convictions including 733 homicide convictions; 33,555 assault convictions; 10,020 burglary convictions; 40,284 drug convictions; 442 kidnapping convictions; 17,117 theft convictions; 26,493 obstructing police convictions; 2,695 robbery convictions; 4,357 sexual assault convictions; 4,908 sexual offense convictions; and 4,071 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 31,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 10,735 of these individuals were not identified through the PEP 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 alien status was initially determined. Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 10,735 individuals identified as illegal aliens while in prison, were charged with more than 48,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,940 homicide charges; 5,766 assault charges; 3,515 burglary charges; 6,970 drug charges; 353 kidnapping charges; 2,752 theft charges; 3,749 obstructing police charges; 2,441 robbery charges; 3,151 sexual assault charges; 1,244 sexual offense charges; and 1,581 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 26,000 convictions including 1,167 homicide convictions; 2,970 assault convictions; 1,928 burglary convictions; 4,036 drug convictions; 158 kidnapping convictions; 1,310 theft convictions; 1,715 obstructing police convictions; 1,662 robbery convictions; 2,057 sexual assault convictions; 779 sexual offense convictions; and 615 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on September 1, 2023. 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.