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Most of the immigrants arrested by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2017 had a criminal record, a changing trend observed by Pew Research. In a brief note made public on the 15th of February, the American think tank based in Washington stated that 74% of the agency’s arrestees have prior criminal convictions compared to 16% who have pending criminal charges and 11% with none of the two.
According to Pew research and based on previous data, the situation is getting better when compared to the numbers released in 2009. In fact, the number of ICE arrestees with criminal records has dramatically decreased throughout the last eight years. In 2009, immigrants without past criminal convictions accounted for the majority of ICE’s arrests representing 61%.
The agency which provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world, has noticed that those numbers started to decrease when President Barack Obama took office in 2010. In details, the number of immigrants with no criminal convictions and arrested by ICE moved from 297,898 in 2009 to 143,470 in 2017 when Donald Trump’s term as a president of the USA started.
Although the background of ICE’ arrestees knew a big change, a significant increase has been witnessed this year under the presidency of Trump. The number of arrestees without a known conviction jumped to 146% (more than 22,000 arrests) compared to 12% rise of those with criminal records.
The types of criminal convictions
When it comes to the charges on which these immigrants were arrested, Pew research indicates that «ICE arrestees in 2017 with prior convictions, the most common criminal conviction category was driving under the influence of alcohol (59,985 convictions, or 16% of the total), followed by possessing or selling 'dangerous drugs' such as opioids(57,438, or 15%)».
It also adds, based on data provided by ICE that «Immigration offenses, which include illegal entry or false claim to U.S. citizenship, were the third-most common crime type (52,128 convictions, or 14%)».
Meanwhile, ICE arrestees with pending criminal charges in 2017 were mainly arrested for «general traffic offenses (24,438, or 17% of all charges), followed by driving under the influence of alcohol (20,562, or 14%) and possession or selling of 'dangerous drugs' (19,065, or 13%)». On the other hand pending immigration violations at the bottom of the list considered as the fifth-most common charge (10,389, or 7%).
Other pending criminal charges and convictions accounted for 11% and 8% while other violent crime categories were less common. Finally, serious offences such as sexual assault, kidnapping, homicide represent only 1% of the pending charges and prior convictions.
