As RedState reported earlier, CBS News published a hit piece on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda, noting that an internal DHS document indicated that “less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by [ICE] in President Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses.”
“Nearly 60% of ICE arrestees over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, the document indicates,” the CBS News report continued. “But among that population, the majority of the criminal charges or convictions are not for violent crimes.”
But as DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin observed in response, “Drug trafficking, Distribution of child pornography, burglary, fraud, DUI, embezzlement, solicitation of a minor, human smuggling are all categorized as ‘non-violent crimes.'” Yet they are obviously still very heinous crimes.
READ MORE: CBS’s Attempt to Attack President Trump’s Deportation Project Gets Harsh Response from Homeland Security
The report also focused on the following statistic: “Nearly 40% of all of those arrested by ICE in Mr. Trump’s first year back in office did not have any criminal record at all, and were only accused of civil immigration offenses.”
What that leaves out, however, is that some violent offenders living in the U.S. either had no criminal history (violent or otherwise) or had a record of relatively minor offenses before they committed a violent crime, including Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was convicted in November 2024 of murdering Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley, who was just 22-years-old.
Further, as McLaughlin went on to point out, some very (allegedly) violent individuals would be considered “non-criminals” by CBS News because they didn’t have convictions here in the U.S.:
By @cbs’s standard, Edward Hernandez, who @ICEgov arrested last week in Virginia is a “non criminal” because he hasn’t been convicted in the United States.
Never mind that he is an MS-13 member & confessed to murdering 5 people in El Salvador through shooting, torturing, stabbing, and dismemberment (including one victim who was alive.)
By @cbs’s standard, Edward Hernandez, who @ICEgov arrested last week in Virginia is a “non criminal” because he hasn’t been convicted in the United States.
Never mind that he is an MS-13 member & confessed to murdering 5 people in El Salvador through shooting, torturing,… pic.twitter.com/lY3VYOQGdu
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) February 9, 2026
Relatedly, CBS News revealed at the end of their story that the numbers didn’t take into account the number of arrests made by the Border Patrol in the cities where they have conducted their “aggressive and sweeping arrest operations.” Undoubtedly, there are a lot more criminal offenders who have been taken into custody as well by the CBP.
In other words, there’s a lot more to the story – and those DHS numbers – than CBS News shared in their write-up. Clearly, Bari Weiss still has some work to do.
The bottom line?
Alternatively– and hear me out on this one– America is under no obligation to wait for a citizen to be the victim of a violent crime committed by an illegal alien before we deport them. https://t.co/ynrkTup8yc
— Marty O’Donnell (@MartyTheElder) February 9, 2026
‘Nuff said.
Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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