Shocking data shows 15,000 illegal immigrants face murder charges – as Kamala Harris visits the border

WASHINGTON – Federal figures released Friday show that more than 15,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the United States will be convicted or charged with murder – the staggering figure was released as Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to the southern border to address her alleged To express weakness in politics issue.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided the data to Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who released it as Air Force Two flew to southern Arizona for the Democratic presidential candidate's second border trip since becoming President Biden's point man on reducing the illegal immigration.

“As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 non-citizens with criminal histories on ICE's national file – 13,099 criminally convicted MURDERS!” tweeted Gonzales, a critic of Harris' performance, which covers more than 800 miles of territory along the border between the USA and Mexico.

“Americans deserve to be SAFE in our own communities.”

ICE provided the data to Gonzales on Wednesday and did not provide details on how many of the accused and convicted criminals entered the U.S. during Harris' tenure as so-called “border czar,” with the U.S. seeing a record number of illegal border crossings on three consecutive occasions Years.

Under Biden and Harris, a large share of illegal immigrants were released into the US to await badly backlogged asylum procedures – after the administration ended former President Donald Trump's policy of remaining in Mexico for those seeking persecution in their home countries , had rejected.

ICE is currently holding 277 migrants convicted of murder and 51 facing such charges, the agency said.

According to the data set, federal authorities are aware that 13,099 illegal immigrants living in the United States who have been convicted of murder and 1,845 people accused of murder are not currently being detained.

The document does not indicate how many of the killers are being held by state or local officials.

Other well-represented crimes include sexual assault—523 convicted or alleged rapists are in ICE custody and 20,061 are not—and assault, with more than 100,000 convicted or accused of this crime not in ICE custody.

ICE said the criminal cohort includes many residents of “sanctuary states” and cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities – a list that includes Harris' home state of California, Illinois and New York.

“ICE recognizes that some jurisdictions fear that cooperation with federal immigration authorities will undermine trust in immigrant communities and make it more difficult for local law enforcement to serve these populations,” Patrick Lechleitner, acting director of ICE, wrote to Gonzales .

“However, 'safe zone' policies can end up shielding dangerous criminals who often prey on the same communities.”

The data sparked intense criticism of Harris leaving the border as polls show immigration and the economy as her biggest weaknesses in a close fight against Trump, the Republican nominee.

“The Biden/Harris administration opened the border, closed ICE detention centers, slowed deportations, and released murderers back onto the streets instead of removing them,” tweeted former ICE field director John Fabbricatore, the Republican candidate representing Rep. Jason Crow challenges (D-Colo.).

Trump wrote on social media: “No one who allowed something like this to happen to our country is fit to be President of the United States!” Bad timing for them to show up at the border today after four years of not showing up had gone there. Why didn’t they release these numbers sooner?”

Critics of Biden and Harris, including Trump, have highlighted high-profile examples of killings allegedly committed by migrants, including the killing of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in February.

The Postal Service contacted ICE to confirm the accuracy of the information Gonzales submitted.

Illegal border crossings reached record levels in each of the first three years of Harris' term in charge of containing the crisis – reaching nearly 2.5 million in fiscal year 2023, which ended September 30.

Recent monthly arrests have been declining since Biden issued an executive order in June imposing caps on processing illegal immigrants.