A new report from the Department of Homeland Security revealed that immigrants make up an incredible 58,766 of prison inmates. Trump was right again, It seems that they are – in fact – not sending their “best and brightest” across the border.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified a total of 58766 illegals in federal custody at the end of the year, 2017. Out of these, 64% have already been confirmed classified as illegal by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Out of these 58766 people, 39455 are held in the Facilities that operate under the Federal Bureau of Prisons, whereas the other 19311 are detained in the pretrial facilities under the U.S. Marshals Service.
Out of the confirmed illegal immigrants, a total of 94 percent of the people are being kept in prison unlawfully. These are inclusive of a 92 percent of the illegal rate with the BOP custody. Whereas, 97 percent of them are in USMS custody.
The report was released after an executive order was issued by President Trump in January, and is the third such report this year. The order clearly said that the DHS and DOJ – Department Of Justice will work together in the collection of all such available data that is related to the imprisoned immigrants, to fulfill the requirements of the agenda of the President to reform the immigration process.
These immigrants account for a massive 22 percent of the total federal prisoners, if related to the 13.5 percent of the rest of the population. Although most of the causes of the massive difference could be because of the specific instructions to keep a strict check on the immigrants’ activity. As per the year 2016, a huge 62.8 percent of the non-citizen population was imprisoned and faced charges, like re-entry, which is a huge immigration offense.
The report, however, is not open to providing information of the distribution of these offenses committed by the immigrants – either confirmed or illegal. It was indicated by a senior administration official that the data would be present in the future reports so that the situation could be deeply analyzed. They also referred to the information provided by the Sentencing Commission of United States, which suggests that the non-citizens are mostly convicted of immigration, drug-related issues, and money laundering.
Attorney General, Jeff Sessions said, “The simple fact is that any offense committed by a criminal alien is ultimately preventable. One victim is too many. It’s time for Congress to enact the President’s immigration reform agenda so that we start welcoming the best and brightest while turning away drug dealers, gang members, and other criminals.”
The report failed to mention any data about the imprisonment of the known or the suspected immigrants present in the state or the custody of the local law enforcement agency. Such jails and prisons add up to more than a 90 percent of America’s total prisoners. Hence, the lack of data as per the state level information provided leaves a huge gap in the report.
“DHS and DOJ are working to develop a reliable methodology for estimating the status of state and local incarcerated populations in future reports,” the report said.
