The Department of Homeland Security told Congress in a letter that surfaced Friday that it has failed to remove nearly 1 million illegal aliens who had previously been ordered deported, and that 179,000 of those aliens had been convicted of a criminal offense.

DHS provided those details in response to a letter the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest sent over the summer, which asked for details about the number of criminal aliens ordered deported.

"American families remain in danger for the simple tragic reason that our laws are not enforced," Stephen Miller, communications director to the Subcommittee Chair Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told the Washington Examiner after the letter was released.

Republicans have charged that fewer criminal aliens are being deported as a result of the Priority Enforcement Program, which replaced Secure Communities last November as part of the president's executive action on immigration. The new program's top priority is removing individuals who pose a severe threat to national security or public safety, but many GOP lawmakers say that's a reduced standard that is preventing the deportation of some with criminal records.

DHS admitted in its letter that it has not calculated how many additional criminal aliens the country should expect to be released from police custody onto the street, since they are no longer considered a priority for deportation under PEP standards.

The agency maintains that it only collects statistics for criminal immigrants who have been ordered deported but remain in defiance of that order.

Since DHS does not track the number of aliens who have ever committed or been convicted of crimes while in the U.S., the number of total criminal aliens illegally in the U.S. would be even greater than 179,000, Miller said.

Read the DHS response to Senate questions here:

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