Claim that the Biden administration allowed 13,000 immigrants convicted of murder to enter and roam the U.S. freely is misleading

On Friday, Sept. 27, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Douglas, Arizona, marking her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Her visit comes after former President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans have criticized the Biden administration’s record on immigration and faulted the vice president for spending little time at the border.

On the same day as her trip, Trump claimed in two Truth Social posts that under Harris’ leadership, the Biden administration is letting migrants who have committed serious crimes go free in the United States.

“Kamala should immediately cancel her News Conference because it was just revealed that 13,000 convicted murderers entered our Country during her three and a half year period as Border Czar,” Trump said in one post.

“Comrade Kamala Harris, who allowed almost 14,000 MURDERERS to freely and openly roam our Country, is now making a Speech in Douglas, Arizona, trying to say she did an OK job with the Border. She didn’t!” Trump said in another post.

He reiterated the same claim in another post after Harris’ trip to the border.

Multiple VERIFY readers, including Adam, JoAnn and Robert, sent us messages asking if Trump’s claims are true.

THE QUESTION

Has the Biden administration allowed more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of murder to enter and roam the U.S. freely?

THE SOURCES

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Rep. Tony Gonzales’ March 2024 letter to President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Deputy Director Patrick Lechleiter’s September 2024 letter to Rep. Tony Gonzales 
• A 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General 
• A 2023 document released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, J.D., senior fellow at the American Immigration Council
• John Sandweg, J.D., an attorney who was acting ICE director from 2013 to 2014 during the Obama administration

THE ANSWER

The claim that the Biden administration has allowed more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of murder to enter and roam the U.S. freely is misleading.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data estimates that there are more than 13,000 immigrants in the U.S. convicted of murder who are not currently in ICE custody, but they were released over a period of 40 years and did not all enter the country during the Biden administration. Some of the 13,000 immigrants could also be in prison or jail.

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WHAT WE FOUND

The Biden administration has not allowed more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of murder to enter and roam the U.S. freely in the past three-and-a-half years, like former President Donald Trump claimed.

Newly released ICE data estimates that there are more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of homicide in the country on the agency’s “non-detained” docket, meaning they have pending immigration cases but are not currently in ICE custody.

However, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, says the data actually spans 40 years and includes immigrants who entered the U.S. under several presidential administrations. The agency also says the data includes immigrants who could currently be incarcerated in federal, state or local jails or prisons.

On Sept. 25, ICE released data to Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, of Texas, in response to a request he made in March for information about people under ICE supervision who have been either convicted of crimes or facing criminal charges.

In its letter to Gonzales, ICE said that as of July 21, there were 662,566 foreign-born noncitizens with criminal histories on the agency’s national docket, which includes those not currently detained by ICE.

People included in ICE’s “non-detained” docket were immigrants found guilty of very serious crimes: 13,099 for homicide, 15,811 for sexual assault, 13,423 for weapons offenses and 2,663 for stolen vehicles. The single biggest category was for traffic-related offenses at 77,074, followed by assault at 62,231 and dangerous drugs at 56,533.

ICE’s letter to Gonzales does not include information on how many of the people included in its docket entered the U.S. illegally or if they are foreign-born noncitizens with permanent U.S. residency, or a green card. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told the Border Report that these individuals can be put on ICE's “non-detained” docket if they are convicted of a crime or have a pending crime in the U.S. The letter also doesn’t specify how long the people on the docket have been in the country.

Gonzales shared the letter on social media and pointed to the data as proof that the Biden administration is letting immigrants with criminal records into the country, and isn’t doing enough to kick out those who commit crimes while they’re here.

“We’ve known for far too long that the Biden-Harris border crisis poses a direct threat to Americans. The truth is clear—illegal immigrants with a criminal record are coming into our country. The data released by ICE is beyond disturbing, and it should be a wake-up call for the Biden-Harris administration and cities across the country that hide behind sanctuary policies,” Gonzales said in a news release.

But DHS later clarified in a statement to VERIFY that the data from ICE’s letter actually spans several decades, including the Trump administration and other presidencies, and that those not in custody may be currently detained in prison or jail — a distinction ICE also didn’t make in its letter to Gonzales.

“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this [Biden-Harris] administration,” a DHS spokesperson said.

“It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners,” the DHS spokesperson added.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told the Associated Press that it was “unfortunate” the information didn’t come with a proper explanation, saying that it “lends itself to misinterpretation, either deliberate or otherwise.”

The number of people ICE supervises but who aren’t in its custody has grown from 3.3 million a little before Biden took office in 2021 to a little over 7 million last spring.

ICE has limited resources, as well as logistical and legal limits on who they can hold in detention. Its current annual budget, for instance, allows the agency to hold only 41,500 people at a time.

John Sandweg, an attorney who was acting ICE director from 2013 to 2014 under then-President Barack Obama, told the Associated Press that holding people accused or convicted of the most serious crimes is always the agency’s top priority.

But once someone has a final order of removal — meaning a court has found that they don’t have the right to stay in the country — they cannot be held in detention forever while ICE works out how to get them home. A 2001 Supreme Court ruling essentially prevented ICE from holding those people for more than six months if there is no reasonable chance to expect they can be sent back.

Not every country is willing to take back its citizens, according to Sandweg. He also said he suspects that a large number of those convicted of homicide but not held by ICE are people who were ordered deported, but the agency can’t remove them because their home country won’t take them back.

“It’s a very common scenario. Even amongst the countries that take people back, they can be very selective about who they take back,” Sandweg said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.