(The Center Square) – More than 451,000 criminal noncitizens have been arrested and booked into local Texas jails over the past 14 years, according to an updated report published by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Among them are 322,000 who are confirmed to be in the U.S. illegally, according to available U.S. Department of Homeland Security data.
The data covers June 1, 2011, through Feb. 28, 2025, and represents DPS and local law enforcement agencies that participate in DHS’ Secure Communities program. The program enables DHS to work with state and local law enforcement to take custody of illegal foreign nationals who pose a danger to public safety as an alternative to them being released into local communities.
The data only pertains to Texas state offenses. It excludes criminal records from other states, federal criminal charges and data pertaining to foreign nationals who are legally in the country who committed a state crime.
Among the 322,000 confirmed illegal foreign nationals, law enforcement officials charged them with more than 564,000 combined criminal offenses, according to the data. They include arrests for 1,043 homicide charges; 73,025 assault charges; 10,096 burglary charges; 65,896 drug charges; 1,371 kidnapping charges; 28,601 theft charges; 44,080 obstructing police charges; 3,214 robbery charges; 7,177 sexual assault charges; 8,189 sexual offense charges; and 7,024 weapon charges.
The charges resulted in 208,000 convictions, including 533 for homicide; 26,670 for assault; 5,147 for burglary; 27,093 for drugs; 391 for kidnapping; 10,740 for theft; 17,084 for obstructing police; 1,834 for robbery; 3,508 for sexual assault; 3,733 for sexual offense; and 2,263 for weapons.
The data relates to foreign nationals who are in the U.S. illegally; not all arrested are in the DHS database at the time of their arrest, resulting in an inability to verify their citizenship. An individual’s lawful status is determined by matching fingerprints to a DHS database. If the arrestee’s fingerprints aren’t yet in the DHS database at the time of their Texas arrest, DHS isn’t able to biometrically verify their status, DPS explains.
Foreign nationals who illegally enter the U.S. and avoid detection, referred to as gotaways, and are later arrested by local or state law enforcement for a state offense may not be in the DHS database. Those who aren’t in the database aren’t included in the data, DPS explains.
In addition to the Secure Communities program, DHS adjudicates the immigration status of foreign nationals incarcerated in the Texas prison system. From 2011 through Feb. 28, 2025, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) provided DPS with information on more than 33,000 illegal foreign nationals identified by DHS while incarcerated. Among them, 11,001 weren’t identified through the Secure Communities 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 noncitizen status was initially determined,” the report explains.
Of the 11,001 TDCJ identified, they were incarcerated for a combined more than 11,016 criminal offenses, including charges for homicide (151); assault (1,437); burglary (600); drugs (1,933); kidnapping (65); theft (544); obstructing police (1,041); robbery (423); sexual assault (946); sexual offenses (440); and weapons (278).
According to DPS criminal history, the criminal charges resulted in more than 6,000 convictions including for homicide (117); assault (836); burglary (380); drugs (1,062); kidnapping (35); theft (290); obstructing police (457); robbery (313); sexual assault (693); sexual offense (316); and weapons (113).
The totals are up from more than 443,000 criminal noncitizens arrested, including 314,000 confirmed illegally in the country as of Sept. 30, 2024, The Center Square reported.
Among these are the nearly 50,000 arrests reported by local law enforcement in 2023, The Center Square reported.
The arrest and charges data don’t “necessarily align with the size of the population of illegal noncitizens identified while in prison,” the report explains. “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.”
The reports were updated using data as of March 1, 2025.
