A special agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) questioned a man as his vehicle was searched after he was stopped heading into Mexico at the Hidalgo border crossing.
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More than 13,000 immigrants convicted of murder — in the United States or abroad — are living freely in the U.S., outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, according to data ICE provided to Congress earlier this week.
The immigrants are part of ICE’s “non-detainer” docket, meaning the agency has some information about immigrants and has pending immigration cases in the U.S., but is not currently being detained because they are not prioritized for detention or because of ICE. could not find them.
Acting ICE Director PJ Lechleitner submitted the data, collected on July 21, as part of a request sent in March from Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas.
It is unclear when the first of the 13,000 migrants crossed into the US Two law enforcement officials familiar with the data told NBC News many of the migrants on ICE’s docket who were not detained, including serious criminals, crossed into the U.S. under previous administrations, including former President Donald Trump.
During a campaign stop in Michigan on Friday, Trump used the data to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris over her current immigration policy.
“Finally I can look at them and say ‘I told you so,’ to fake news,” Trump said. “These are tough, tough, vicious criminals who roam free in our country.”
The White House has not commented on the data. One official told NBC News the release of the data came as a surprise to the White House.
The 13,099 immigrants convicted of murder living in the U.S. may never have had contact with ICE, the two law enforcement officials said. Some may have crossed the border and then been released because the Border Patrol lacked information about their criminal history. In many cases, the US is not notified of a person’s criminal conviction until after they cross into the country.
In other cases, migrants convicted of crimes can be released by state and local officials after serving their time without ICE notification, as is the policy in many sanctuary cities. ICE must then locate the inmate after release in order to detain and deport him.
The two law enforcement officials said ICE prioritizes migrants who have been convicted of serious crimes, such as murder, for detention.
But the agency’s limited resources limit how many can be found and detained. There are currently more than 7.5 million immigrants on ICE’s “not detained” docket, meaning they have pending immigration cases but are not currently detained.
Lechleitner told NBC News more local jurisdictions are cooperating and starting to rethink sanctuary policies because of increased attention on migrant crimes.
NBC News joined ICE agents in Maryland earlier this year as they arrested a man convicted of murder in Colombia and a man convicted of attempted murder in El Salvador.
Agents explained that finding convicted felons living in public requires a lot of manpower, from finding them to arresting them.
