Texas Criminal Illegal Alien Data

The Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies in Texas participate in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). Participation in PEP 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, PEP 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 alien” refers to an individual who has been identified as an alien 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 PEP

According to DHS status indicators, over 322,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011 and June 30, 2020, of which over 219,000 were classified as illegal aliens by DHS.

Between June 1, 2011 and June 30, 2020, these 219,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 350,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 640 homicide charges; 39,537 assault charges; 6,647 burglary charges; 43,361 drug charges; 533 kidnapping charges; 18,070 theft charges; 27,482 obstructing police charges; 1,922 robbery charges; 4,238 sexual assault charges; 5,440 sexual offense charges; and 3,575 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 138,000 convictions including 293 homicide convictions; 15,980 assault convictions; 3,565 burglary convictions; 20,233 drug convictions; 205 kidnapping convictions; 7,805 theft convictions; 12,660 obstructing police convictions; 1,158 robbery convictions; 2,054 sexual assault convictions; 2,666 sexual offense convictions; and 1,471 weapon convictions.



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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 PEP 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 28,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 10,446 of these individuals were not identified through the PEP 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 alien status was initially determined.

Lawful Presence Determined While Incarcerated at TDCJ

Between June 1, 2011 and June 30, 2020, these 10,446 individual identified as illegal aliens while in prison, but who were not previously identified through PEP, were charged with more than 7,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 99 homicide charges; 951 assault charges; 520 burglary charges; 1,432 drug charges; 35 kidnapping charges; 349 theft charges; 719 obstructing police charges; 293 robbery charges; 617 sexual assault charges; 275 sexual offense charges; and 170 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 4,000 convictions including 75 homicide convictions; 576 assault convictions; 341 burglary convictions; 836 drug convictions; 19 kidnapping convictions; 196 theft convictions; 325 obstructing police convictions; 227 robbery convictions; 440 sexual assault convictions; 205 sexual offense convictions; and 79 weapon convictions.



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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 June 30, 2020 does not necessarily align with the size of the population of illegal aliens 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 PEP, we have limited the arrest and conviction counts for prison identified illegal aliens to the same June 1, 2011 to June 30, 2020 time frame used for individuals identified through PEP.

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 aliens:

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 June 30, 2020.

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 an alien’s entire criminal history.

Lawful Presence Determined Through PEP

According to DHS status indicators, over 322,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011 and June 30, 2020, of which over 219,000 were classified as illegal aliens by DHS.

Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 219,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 533,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,161 homicide charges; 60,768 assault charges; 16,506 burglary charges; 67,842 drug charges; 850 kidnapping charges; 31,864 theft charges; 46,147 obstructing police charges; 3,905 robbery charges; 6,507 sexual assault charges; 7,799 sexual offense charges; and 7,618 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 240,000 convictions including 544 homicide convictions; 25,804 assault convictions; 8,478 burglary convictions; 34,447 drug convictions; 325 kidnapping convictions; 14,804 theft convictions; 22,744 obstructing police convictions; 2,151 robbery convictions; 3,379 sexual assault convictions; 4,109 sexual offense convictions; and 3,345 weapon convictions.



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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 28,000 individuals who were identified by DHS as in the country illegally while they were incarcerated at TDCJ. 10,446 of these individuals were not identified through the PEP 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 alien status was initially determined. Over the course of their entire Texas criminal careers, these 10,446 individual identified as illegal aliens while in prison, were charged with more than 47,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 1,932 homicide charges; 5,642 assault charges; 3,593 burglary charges; 6,759 drug charges; 341 kidnapping charges; 2,691 theft charges; 3,701 obstructing police charges; 2,436 robbery charges; 2,968 sexual assault charges; 1,146 sexual offense charges; and 1,569 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 25,000 convictions including 1,151 homicide convictions; 2,868 assault convictions; 1,961 burglary convictions; 3,962 drug convictions; 150 kidnapping convictions; 1,274 theft convictions; 1,675 obstructing police convictions; 1,640 robbery convictions; 1,909 sexual assault convictions; 711 sexual offense convictions; and 621 weapon convictions.



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