Texas Criminal Illegal Noncitizen Data

August 27, 2020

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 450,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and January 31, 2025, of which over 321,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.

Between June 1, 2011, and January 31, 2025, these 321,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 561,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,039 homicide charges; 72,597 assault charges; 10,044 burglary charges; 65,602 drug charges; 1,361 kidnapping charges; 28,447 theft charges; 43,832 obstructing police charges; 3,205 robbery charges; 7,128 sexual assault charges; 8,140 sexual offense charges; and 6,987 weapon charges.  DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 206,000 convictions including 524 homicide convictions; 26,410 assault convictions; 5,102 burglary convictions; 26,899 drug convictions; 387 kidnapping convictions; 10,639 theft convictions; 16,985 obstructing police convictions; 1,813 robbery convictions; 3,418 sexual assault convictions; 3,701 sexual offense convictions; and 2,238 weapon convictions. 

Arrest and Conviction Data for Select Offenses Associated with Incarcerated Illegal Criminal Noncitizens
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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 33,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ.  10,998 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 January 31, 2025, these 10,998 individual identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, but who were not previously identified through Secure Communities, were charged with more than 10,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 151 homicide charges; 1,432 assault charges; 600 burglary charges; 1,926 drug charges; 65 kidnapping charges; 541 theft charges; 1,037 obstructing police charges; 424 robbery charges; 945 sexual assault charges; 440 sexual offense charges; and 278 weapon charges.  DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 116 homicide convictions; 832 assault convictions; 380 burglary convictions; 1,057 drug convictions; 35 kidnapping convictions; 287 theft convictions; 455 obstructing police convictions; 313 robbery convictions; 693 sexual assault convictions; 315 sexual offense convictions; and 111 weapon convictions.              

Criminal Aliens Chart 2
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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 January 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 January 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 January 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 450,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and January 31, 2025, of which over 321,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.

Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 321,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 772,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,641 homicide charges; 97,078 assault charges; 21,340 burglary charges; 93,593 drug charges; 1,712 kidnapping charges; 44,164 theft charges; 65,234 obstructing police charges; 5,469 robbery charges; 9,620 sexual assault charges; 10,799 sexual offense charges; and 11,709 weapon charges.  DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 323,000 convictions including 818 homicide convictions; 37,845 assault convictions; 10,758 burglary convictions; 43,130 drug convictions; 522 kidnapping convictions; 18,658 theft convictions; 28,522 obstructing police convictions; 2,969 robbery convictions; 4,859 sexual assault convictions; 5,330 sexual offense convictions; and 4,431 weapon convictions.

Criminal Aliens Chart 3
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Lawful Presence Determined While Incarcerated at TDCJ

rom 2011 to date, the Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has provided DPS with information on more than 33,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ.  10,998 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 10,998 individuals identified as illegal noncitizens while in prison, were charged with more than 49,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,956 homicide charges; 5,921 assault charges; 3,542 burglary charges; 7,122 drug charges; 362 kidnapping charges; 2,806 theft charges; 3,881 obstructing police charges; 2,468 robbery charges; 3,265 sexual assault charges; 1,303 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 1,179 homicide convictions; 3,039 assault convictions; 1,941 burglary convictions; 4,107 drug convictions; 162 kidnapping convictions; 1,341 theft convictions; 1,754 obstructing police convictions; 1,672 robbery convictions; 2,145 sexual assault convictions; 822 sexual offense convictions; and 626 weapon convictions.               

Historical Arrest and Conviction Data

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The reports used to update the above data were ran on February 5, 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.