According to ICE, more than 13,000 immigrants who have been convicted of homicide in the United States or abroad are currently living freely in the United States.
The staggering figure was revealed by the agency to Congress earlier this week as it admitted that many of the killers had slipped through the cracks.
The immigrants are classified as ‘non-detained’ by ICE, which means the agency knows them and they have pending immigration cases in the United States, but they are not behind bars because they do not have priority or because ICE cannot find them, it reports. NBC News.
The data comes amid several high-profile murders of Americans allegedly carried out by illegal immigrants, including the brutal murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley, 22, in February.
After the shocking oversight was revealed, Donald Trump used them to attack Kamala Harris during a campaign rally in Michigan on Friday, saying, “I told you so.”
According to ICE, more than 13,000 immigrants who have been convicted of homicide in the United States or abroad are currently living freely in the United States.
The data comes amid several high-profile murders of Americans allegedly carried out by illegal immigrants, including the brutal murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley (pictured) in February.
Trump described the immigrants on the list as “hard, tough, vicious criminals who are free to roam our country.”
However, it is unclear when the first of a total of 13,099 murderous immigrants entered the United States, and law enforcement sources told NBC that many crossed during Trump’s presidency.
The data was sent to Congress by ICE following a request from Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, and was collected until July 21.
While Trump quickly pounced on the figure during his campaign, neither the White House nor Kamala Harris’ campaign has commented on the findings.
An official told NBC that the White House was “surprised” by the figure.
Among the more than 13,000 immigrant killers are some who have never come into contact with ICE, while others may have been let go by the agency because they had no information about their criminal history.
In some cases, this has been driven by soft crime laws in so-called sanctuary cities, where local and state officials release migrants convicted of crimes without notifying ICE.
For the convicted immigrant to later be deported, it is up to ICE to locate and detain them.
After the shocking oversight was revealed, Donald Trump used them to attack Kamala Harris during a campaign stop in Michigan on Friday (pictured), where he described the immigrants on the list as “hard, tough, vicious criminals who They are free to roam the country. our country
Riley was found dead on a running trail near her residence at the University of Georgia, allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant.
Illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra, 26, was charged with Riley’s murder, as prosecutors say he was seen on video cameras lurking around her bedroom before she was killed.
While sources reportedly said the agency was prioritizing violent criminals in its “non-detainee” file, the total number of immigrants on the list currently exceeds 7.5 million.
Acting ICE Director PJ Lechleitner said after the data was released that he is seeing an increase in local authorities’ cooperation with immigration efforts due to a series of crimes and murders allegedly carried out by illegal immigrants.
One such case that gained national attention was the brutal murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley in February.
Illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra, 26, was charged with the murder, as prosecutors say he was seen on video cameras lurking around her bedroom before she was killed on a nearby jogging trail.
