The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new database on Tuesday, highlighting "the worst of the worst criminal aliens arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)." Dubbed the "dictionary of depravity" in a post on X, the DHS data categorize just 4 percent of immigration arrests since President Donald Trump took office in January as "the worst of the worst." At a congressional hearing on Thursday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem faced tough questions about why the agency's deportation reality doesn't match its claim of targeting violent criminals.
Of the roughly 281,000 people arrested by ICE from January 20 through December 9, fewer than 10,000 individuals are classified as "the worst of the worst" by the DHS, according to analysis done by the Cato Institute's Director of Immigration Studies, David Bier. Of those classified, "a majority (56 percent) of the list has not been charged or convicted of a violent crime," according to Bier, "and nearly a quarter…had nothing but a vice, immigration (e.g., illegal entry), or non-DUI traffic charge." Thousands of faces and names have been placed on the DHS' list for minor offenses, like drug possession charges.
