ABC News Laments Just 3% of Deported Migrants Are Violent Felons
ABC News drew criticism for highlighting that only three percent of 400,000 migrants detained under Trump had violent felony convictions, which officials say ignores terrorists and gang members.
According to Breitbart News, the network published an analysis on Friday claiming that during the first 14 months of President Donald Trump’s second term, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained hundreds of thousands of individuals, with just three percent having violent felony convictions. The report suggested this contradicted Trump’s stated goal of targeting the worst criminal offenders among illegal migrants.
The three-percent figure appears to confirm that the Trump administration has rejected pressure from business interests seeking to retain non-violent illegal migrants as cheap labor, consumers, and renters within the American economy.
Department of Homeland Security officials defended their enforcement approach, noting that immigration law violations themselves constitute crimes. The department stated that nearly 70 percent of ICE arrests involve criminal illegal aliens, and enforcement continues to prioritize gang members, pedophiles, and rapists.
Officials further clarified that many individuals classified as non-criminals in the statistics are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, and gang members who simply lack criminal records in the United States.
Jeremy Beck, co-president of NumbersUSA, told Breitbart News that the ABC article appeared designed to undermine immigration enforcement by suggesting it fails because most detainees are non-criminals. He characterized this perspective as advocating for de facto open borders where immigration laws are enforced only when violent crimes occur.
Beck pointed out that this approach was tested during the Biden administration, which attempted to regularize illegal immigration rather than enforce existing laws. That policy resulted in widespread public backlash across both Democratic and Republican communities, ultimately contributing to Trump’s political victories.
The ABC report did not account for deportations conducted by other federal agencies or self-deportations by migrants seeking to avoid legal records of their illegal presence in America.
Much of the network’s coverage focused on emotional appeals regarding children and spouses left behind by deported illegal migrants. Andrea Flores, founder of Securing America’s Promise and a former DHS official, claimed the enforcement policies could create a child welfare crisis.
Meanwhile, Trump’s deportation efforts are delivering tangible benefits to American families. Housing costs are declining nationwide, with the national median rent falling 4.4 percent from its 2022 peak, according to ApartmentList.com reporting from late May. Austin, Texas has seen particularly significant relief, with rents down 5.1 percent year-over-year.
Economic indicators are also improving for American workers. As Breitbart News reported in early June, the average weekly paycheck for nonsupervisory durable goods factory workers increased 7.4 percent year-over-year, with hourly pay up 5.3 percent. The average workweek has expanded, particularly due to rising overtime opportunities.
Overall wage growth continued in May, with hourly wages rising 0.4 percent and weekly wages climbing 0.6 percent, despite inflationary pressures linked to global oil supply constraints.
With information from Breitbart News
