Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is trying to set the record straight on the number of migrants detained by ICE who have committed a criminal offense.
Ms. Noem said Sunday that 70% of the detainees have been convicted or charged with a violent crime, or have criminal histories in their home country.
“They need to be brought to justice, and we’re going to keep doing that, no matter how much you guys keep lying and don’t tell the public the truth,” she said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Critics of the Trump immigration enforcement efforts claim the president promised to target violent criminals, but that nonviolent immigrants have been swept up in the raids.
The New York Times reported last month that more than half of the people swept up in the raids in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts through Oct. 15 did not have criminal records.
A recent CBS News analysis of Department of Homeland Security data found that about 47% of detainees had criminal charges or convictions in the U.S., while the rest were neither convicted of a crime nor facing criminal charges and were instead being held on civil immigration violations.
Ms. Noem scoffed at the reporting, telling host Margaret Brennan, “You’re wrong.”
“We’ll get you the correct numbers so you can use them in the future,” she said.
