Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
No.
New data cited by former President Donald Trump count the number of noncitizens convicted of crimes who entered the U.S. over roughly 40 years, not only during the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump claimed Sept. 28, 2024, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, that Vice President Kamala Harris “let in 425,431 people convicted of” crimes.
That’s the number of noncitizens in the U.S. who were convicted of crimes before or after arriving in the country and who are not detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE said.
They include 13,099 people whose most serious conviction was for homicide, 15,811 for sexual assault, 10,031 for robbery and 62,231 for assault.
A Homeland Security Department spokesperson told reporters that the vast majority of the noncitizens entered the U.S. before the Biden administration, some of whom are in jail or prison.
Undocumented immigrants are not more likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes, research shows.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
LiveNOW from FOX: FULL SPEECH: Trump speaks on immigration in battleground Wisconsin | LiveNOW from FOX
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Letter to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales
CNN: Fact check: To attack Harris, Trump falsely describes new stats on immigrants and homicide
Washington Post: How Trump is distorting immigration and crime data in new attacks on Harris
Associated Press: ICE numbers cited by Trump, other Republicans being misconstrued. Here’s what they show
Wisconsin Watch: Are undocumented immigrants at border more apt to commit crime?
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
