Texas Report Gives 10-Year Insight on Offenses Committed by Criminal Aliens

For ten years, the state of Texas has been doing what no other state does, but what every state should do: publicly releasing statistics regarding crimes committed by non-citizens. The American public deserves to know the truth about the rate at which non-citizens, and especially illegal aliens, are committing crimes in the United States, and Texas is doing its best to provide this information.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) released its latest report on the number of crimes committed by foreign nationals in Texas. According to the report, more than 346,000 criminal aliens were booked into local jails across the Lone Star State over the past decade. In addition, more than 236,000, or 68 percent, of those arrested aliens were classified as unlawfully present by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

These 236,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 577,000 criminal offenses throughout their criminal careers. These charges included:

• Homicide:1,260
• Assault: 67,533 
• Burglary: 17,535
• Drugs: 73,311
• Kidnapping: 1,000
• Theft: 33,515
• Obstructing police: 49,733
• Robbery: 4,184
• Sexual assault: 7,126
• Sexual offense: 8,635
• Weapons: 8,376

Of the 577,000 charges filed against these illegal aliens, more than 254,000 resulted in convictions. Examples of these convictions included:

• Homicide: 585
• Assault: 27,984
• Burglary: 8,942
• Drugs: 36,284
• Kidnapping: 358
• Theft: 15,443
• Obstructing police: 23,841
• Robbery: 2,323
• Sexual assault: 3,646
• Sexual offense: 4,330
• Weapons: 3,550

As DPS notes in their methodology, these figures only include criminal aliens who have had a previous encounter with DHS that resulted in their fingerprints being saved in the Automated Biometric Identification System database. This tally does not include unlawful migrants who trespassed into the United States and eluded contact by DHS but were later arrested by state and local law enforcement. Additionally, the report only contains arrests for state-level offenses committed in Texas; some of these aliens could have criminal records in other states or at the federal level. Immigration-related violations are not included in the totals, as those are prosecuted at the federal level.

This alarming data warrants concern. Thousands of Texans every year become victims of crimes committed by individuals who should not have been in the country.  In fact, according to a FAIR report, illegal aliens are three times as likely as American citizens and legal immigrants to be incarcerated. The Biden administration’s anti-border policies do nothing to alleviate this security concern. Border Patrol sectors in Texas have recently experienced more apprehensions of criminal aliens compared to earlier years.

The tenth anniversary of this Texas report has shed light on the dangers of illegal immigration. Moreover, it has served as a valuable resource in crafting public policy that puts the safety of Americans and lawful immigrants first rather than enabling lawbreakers. Other states should follow Texas’ example of tracking the number of crimes committed by illegal aliens in their respective jurisdictions. After all, pursuing sensible immigration policy benefits public safety, which is a goal every government should achieve.