The Department of Homeland Security has been under the spotlight over the past months as immigration and border security dominate political campaigns at both the local and presidential level. On Monday, DHS released a statement meant to clarify a report made public by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Tex.), which claimed that over 435,000 migrants with criminal records had been released by ICE as of July 21, with several GOP members, including Donald Trump, suggesting that the Biden administration's border policy was behind the number.
The entity, however, said that Republicans were "misinterpreting" the data as numbers actually go back decades and that the people are not jailed by ICE for various reasons — such as because they are currently incarcerated by federal, state or local authorities or because they have already served their criminal sentences but have not been deported.
