This cluster fact-checks the most common claims in this debate, using the evidence already documented earlier in this series. Each piece follows the same structure: the claim, what the key terms mean, what the underlying data actually measure, what's supported, what's missing, any official response, and a bottom line. No partisan scorecard — just the record.
The Claim
"ICE is only going after criminals."
What the Terms Actually Mean
As covered in the first piece of this series, ICE's own "criminal" classification spans three very different situations: a criminal conviction (of any severity), a pending criminal charge with no conviction, and a purely civil immigration violation with no criminal record at all. Which of the three situations a given "criminal" statistic actually describes changes the claim's meaning substantially, since a single pending shoplifting charge and a completed homicide conviction get reported under the exact same word.
What the Data Measure
The most detailed available breakdown, from an internal DHS document reported by CBS News covering the first year of the current administration, measures charges and convictions combined, across all severity levels, as a share of total arrests. That same document is also the primary source cited throughout Articles 4 and 5 of this series, making it the single most-cited data source in this entire cluster of claim-checks.
U.S. Capitol
The U.S. Capitol, where Congress writes and debates the immigration statutes this series examines. Photo: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
What the Evidence Shows
Documented fact: Roughly 60% of arrestees during that period had some criminal charge or conviction, of any kind. Roughly 40% had no criminal record at all — their only issue was a civil immigration violation. Separately, TRAC's detention snapshots have consistently found 70–71% of people in ICE detention on any given day have no criminal conviction. That detention-population figure matters separately from the arrest figure because it reflects who is actually being held at any given moment, which is a different — and for many readers, more consequential — measure than a one-time arrest tally.
What's Supported
It's supported that a majority of arrestees — roughly 60% — do have some criminal history, of any severity, on record. That's a real, substantial majority, and this piece isn't arguing the criminal-history side of the data is fabricated or overstated in itself.
ICE Enforcement Operations, Chicago
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem visits with ICE officers to observe enforcement operations in Chicago, Oct. 3, 2025. Photo: Tia Dufour/DHS, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
What's Missing or Misleading
The word "criminals" implies conviction for serious crime. Most of that 60% is not violent: as documented in Article 2 of this series, fewer than 14% of total arrestees had a charge or conviction specifically for a violent offense — the subject of our dedicated breakdown, "We're Getting Murderers and Rapists Off the Streets." Roughly 40% have no criminal record whatsoever, which the claim as stated doesn't account for. That same blurriness is what makes the label "criminal alien" so easy to misuse.
Government/Other Response
DHS has disputed narrower "violent crime" framings of this data (see Article 1), arguing offenses like drug trafficking and fraud are serious even though not legally classified as violent — a fair point about severity, but not a rebuttal to the no-criminal-record share of arrestees, which DHS has not disputed. DHS's substantive counterargument focuses on offense severity rather than disputing the underlying percentages themselves, which is worth noting since it means the two sides are, in a sense, arguing about different questions rather than disputing the same fact.
Bottom Line
Not supported as a blanket statement. A majority of arrestees have some criminal record, but a large share — roughly 40% of arrests, roughly 70% of any given day's detained population — have none at all. For the full breakdown, see "ICE Says They're Arresting Criminals. What Does 'Criminal' Actually Mean?" earlier in this series. Anyone citing this claim should specify which of the three "criminal" categories they mean and which population — arrests, or a given day's detention count — they're actually describing.
Quick Questions
Does "criminal" always mean convicted?
No. ICE's own reporting lumps convictions, pending charges, and civil-only violations under overlapping "criminal" language — see our breakdown of the "criminal alien" label for the full picture.
"I.C.E. Imperialist COP OUTS EVERYWHERE" Sticker
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"I.C.E. Incarcerating Communities Everyday" Sticker
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Related Reading
ICE Says They're Arresting Criminals. What Does "Criminal" Actually Mean?: the original three-tier breakdown this whole claims-audit builds on.
"Criminal Alien": What Does That Label Actually Tell You?: why the same "criminal" language can describe wildly different situations.
"We're Getting Murderers and Rapists Off the Streets.": the specific violent-crime slice of this same arrest data, checked separately.
Sources: CBS News reporting on an internal DHS document, Feb. 2026; TRAC Immigration detention snapshots, 2025–2026; this series, Article 1.
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