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 December 31, 2025, of which over 335,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and December 31, 2025, these 335,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 595,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,112 homicide charges; 77,843 assault charges; 10,531 burglary charges; 69,608 drug charges; 1,515 kidnapping charges; 30,291 theft charges; 47,034 obstructing police charges; 3,382 robbery charges; 7,608 sexual assault charges; 8,647 sexual offense charges; and 7,543 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 222,000 convictions including 590 homicide convictions; 28,920 assault convictions; 5,413 burglary convictions; 28,614 drug convictions; 435 kidnapping convictions; 11,489 theft convictions; 18,153 obstructing police convictions; 1,973 robbery convictions; 3,808 sexual assault convictions; 3,923 sexual offense convictions; and 2,462 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 December 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 154 homicide charges; 1,551 assault charges; 616 burglary charges; 2,021 drug charges; 71 kidnapping charges; 564 theft charges; 1,114 obstructing police charges; 457 robbery charges; 987 sexual assault charges; 480 sexual offense charges; and 287 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 118 homicide convictions; 906 assault convictions; 387 burglary convictions; 1,112 drug convictions; 40 kidnapping convictions; 305 theft convictions; 493 obstructing police convictions; 335 robbery convictions; 723 sexual assault convictions; 344 sexual offense convictions; and 115 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 December 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 December 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 December 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 466,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and December 31, 2025, 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 808,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,718 homicide charges; 102,657 assault charges; 21,955 burglary charges; 97,919 drug charges; 1,874 kidnapping charges; 46,241 theft charges; 68,687 obstructing police charges; 5,679 robbery charges; 10,130 sexual assault charges; 11,347 sexual offense charges; and 12,338 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 341,000 convictions including 888 homicide convictions; 40,495 assault convictions; 11,114 burglary convictions; 45,014 drug convictions; 571 kidnapping convictions; 19,594 theft convictions; 29,842 obstructing police convictions; 3,137 robbery convictions; 5,253 sexual assault convictions; 5,576 sexual offense convictions; and 4,699 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 1,954 homicide charges; 6,018 assault charges; 3,545 burglary charges; 7,197 drug charges; 362 kidnapping charges; 2,828 theft charges; 3,958 obstructing police charges; 2,495 robbery charges; 3,306 sexual assault charges; 1,343 sexual offense charges; and 1,606 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 27,000 convictions including 1,177 homicide convictions; 3,103 assault convictions; 1,945 burglary convictions; 4,151 drug convictions; 166 kidnapping convictions; 1,361 theft convictions; 1,794 obstructing police convictions; 1,691 robbery convictions; 2,175 sexual assault convictions; 851 sexual offense convictions; and 625 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on January 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.