ICE agents in Houston have arrested more than 200 migrants in the last six months who were either charged with or convicted of child sex crimes, according to a new press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency reported that 214 individuals were detained by the Houston field office alone, surpassing the total number of similar arrests made by the office throughout the entire year of 2024.
“While we still have a long way to go to truly get this crisis under control, the strides we have made in just six months to make our local communities safer are substantial, and our officers continue to work tirelessly every day to get the worst of the worst criminal aliens out of Southeast Texas,” said Paul McBride, acting field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Houston.
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The office credits the increase to additional federal resources.
“Bringing together the resources and expertise of the entire federal law enforcement community to confront the overwhelming surge of illegal immigration that we saw over the past four years has resulted in the arrest and removal of historic numbers of violent criminal aliens,” McBride said.
40% of ICE arrests are convicted criminals
According to a new analysis from the Deportation Data Project, ICE has arrested more than 112,000 migrants nationwide since President Donald Trump took office on Monday, Jan. 20, through late June. The data suggests that 40% of those arrested were convicted criminals.
For comparison, under the Biden administration in 2024, ICE made approximately 51,000 arrests, with 53% of those individuals having criminal records.
Partisan divide over immigration policies
Trump’s intensified immigration enforcement is drawing mixed reactions along party lines. The administration says it is prioritizing “the worst of the worst” in ICE raids, but maintains that anyone in the country illegally is subject to detention.
According to a Wall Street Journal poll published Monday, July 28, 90% of Republican voters support Trump’s immigration approach. However, 90% of Democratic voters believe the president’s deportation efforts “have crossed a line.”
Overall, 51% of registered voters approve of Trump’s handling of illegal immigration, while 62% support the deportation of unauthorized migrants, according to the Journal’s latest polling. However, only 39% favor deporting migrants without allowing them to see a judge or have a court hearing first.
