Washington (CNN) The Trump administration has acknowledged for the first time that its highly-scrutinized January 2018 analysis suggesting a causal link between immigration and acts of terrorism "could be criticized" as misleading, but now refuses to retract or correct the report, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

The controversial 11-page document -- issued last year by the Justice and Homeland Security departments in the midst of a protracted fight over certain immigration policies criticized by President Donald Trump -- claimed that 73% of those convicted of "international terrorism-related charges" since September 11, 2001, were "foreign-born."

But the report failed to detail how many individuals committed acts of terrorism abroad (and were only later brought to the US for prosecution) -- leaving a misleading impression they were mostly immigrants.

It also never accounted for how many foreign nationals were radicalized only after entering the US and did not include individuals convicted of domestic terrorism-related offenses.

In a December 21 letter, the Justice Department admitted that the "information in the report could be criticized by some readers" and it should "strive to minimize the potential for misinterpretation."

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