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 455,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and May 31, 2025, of which over 326,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011, and May 31, 2025, these 326,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 574,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,059 homicide charges; 74,645 assault charges; 10,241 burglary charges; 67,138 drug charges; 1,421 kidnapping charges; 29,198 theft charges; 44,957 obstructing police charges; 3,290 robbery charges; 7,324 sexual assault charges; 8,340 sexual offense charges; and 7,199 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 213,000 convictions including 548 homicide convictions; 27,579 assault convictions; 5,268 burglary convictions; 27,584 drug convictions; 410 kidnapping convictions; 11,041 theft convictions; 17,418 obstructing police convictions; 1,889 robbery convictions; 3,598 sexual assault convictions; 3,792 sexual offense convictions; and 2,335 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 33,000 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 May 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 151 homicide charges; 1,455 assault charges; 601 burglary charges; 1,957 drug charges; 67 kidnapping charges; 550 theft charges; 1,050 obstructing police charges; 423 robbery charges; 958 sexual assault charges; 449 sexual offense charges; and 279 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 6,000 convictions including 117 homicide convictions; 851 assault convictions; 384 burglary convictions; 1,079 drug convictions; 37 kidnapping convictions; 297 theft convictions; 466 obstructing police convictions; 313 robbery convictions; 702 sexual assault convictions; 318 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 May 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 May 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 May 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 455,000 criminal noncitizens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and May 31, 2025, of which over 326,000 were classified as illegal noncitizens by DHS.
Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 326,000 illegal noncitizens were charged with more than 786,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,662 homicide charges; 99,282 assault charges; 21,579 burglary charges; 95,277 drug charges; 1,772 kidnapping charges; 45,031 theft charges; 66,474 obstructing police charges; 5,578 robbery charges; 9,833 sexual assault charges; 11,016 sexual offense charges; and 11,948 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 331,000 convictions including 843 homicide convictions; 39,057 assault convictions; 10,938 burglary convictions; 43,884 drug convictions; 544 kidnapping convictions; 19,092 theft convictions; 29,018 obstructing police convictions; 3,048 robbery convictions; 5,038 sexual assault convictions; 5,430 sexual offense convictions; and 4,549 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 33,000 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; 5,933 assault charges; 3,535 burglary charges; 7,139 drug charges; 363 kidnapping charges; 2,814 theft charges; 3,892 obstructing police charges; 2,462 robbery charges; 3,278 sexual assault charges; 1,312 sexual offense charges; and 1,605 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 27,000 convictions including 1,178 homicide convictions; 3,052 assault convictions; 1,942 burglary convictions; 4,123 drug convictions; 164 kidnapping convictions; 1,352 theft convictions; 1,764 obstructing police convictions; 1,670 robbery convictions; 2,154 sexual assault convictions; 825 sexual offense convictions; and 624 weapon convictions.
The reports used to update the above data were ran on June 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.