ICE’s ‘Non-Detained’ Aren’t All Home Free

Many are in federal, state or local jails. Many will be deported once their sentences end

Letter to The WSJ. 

"Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales paints a frightening picture in his op-ed “Criminal Migrants Run Free in My District” (Oct. 22), but his argument relies on a misreading of government data. In a letter to Mr. Gonzales last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories were on its national docket. The congressman’s claim that “approximately 647,000” of those noncitizens “weren’t detained,” however, is false.

The ICE letter notes that 647,572 noncitizens are on the agency’s “non-detained” docket. “Non-detained,” in this context, doesn’t mean those people aren’t detained—it means they aren’t in ICE detention. Many on the non-detained docket are in federal, state or local jails. Many will be deported once their sentences end. Despite the heightened attention given to ICE’s non-detained docket, the issue isn’t new. The data “includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Fiona Harrigan

Associate editor, Reason"