ICE accuses media of peddling 'FALSE narrative' about non-criminal deportations

The Department of Homeland Security says the media is misleading the public about who is being deported.

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin decided to strike back against media members who have accused her agency, especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of increasingly going after illegal aliens who do not have criminal backgrounds.

New ICE arrest data from late June shows that federal agents ramped up arrests of those who are considered "other immigration violator(s)," but it is that definition that has some journalists and the DHS playing the blame game.

'This deceptive "non-criminal" categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public.'

The DHS is battling narratives from outlets like NPR, CBS News, and the Cato Institute that have argued that the Trump administration said, through Attorney General Pam Bondi and border czar Tom Homan, that enforcement would focus on aliens who have committed crimes in addition to illegally crossing the border.

CBS host Major Garrett even posited to Homan last week that "a growing number of those detained ... are not criminals."

"They are here illegally, which is a crime. But they don't have other felonies on their records," Garrett explained.

A report from journalist Austin Kocher made the same point, showing that 44% of ICE's arrests now represent illegal aliens who have not committed additional crimes.

It is precisely this angle that the DHS is calling a "false" and "deceptive" narrative.

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"The media continues to peddle this FALSE narrative that ICE is not targeting criminal illegal aliens," Assistant Secretary McLaughlin told Blaze News in a statement. "The official data tells the true story: 70% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges."

It is likely that, as June's data is incomplete, the secretary is using data from May, which shows about 71% of ICE arrests included those with either prior convictions or pending criminal charges.

Those without additional convictions, or "other immigration violators," make up the remainder. ICE defines this category as individuals without any known criminal convictions or pending charges in "ICE's system of record at the time of the enforcement action."

However, the DHS assistant secretary says the media are reading between the lines and using their own narrative.

"Many illegal aliens categorized as 'non-criminals' are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members, and more — they just don't have a rap sheet in the U.S. This deceptive 'non-criminal' categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public," McLaughlin's statement added.

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Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images

"The criminal numbers are much higher than a lot of the media is reporting," Homan said on CBS News. "They're simply not counting misdemeanors [and] those that are pending criminal charges."

Many of the convicted criminal aliens are with others who have not committed additional crimes, Homan asserted.

"They're coming, too," he reminded the host. "We'll tell ICE agents, 'You're going to enforce the law.'"

The border czar added, "We still focus on public threats and national security threats, but if we find an illegal alien in the process of doing that, they're going to be arrested too."

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