Fact Check: Yes, Nearly 300K Criminal Illegal Aliens Arrested Over Two Years

During President Trump’s State of the Union Address (SOTU), the president said that federal immigration officials have arrested close to 300,000 criminal illegal aliens over the last two years.

“In the last two years, our brave ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of criminal aliens, including those charged or convicted of nearly 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 killings,” Trump said.

Trump’s statistics on the number of convicted and pending criminal illegal aliens arrested are correct. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested close to 300,000 illegal aliens who were either convicted of crimes or pending criminal charges over the last two years.

(Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

The more than 105,000 convicted criminal illegal aliens arrested by ICE in 2018 include:

• 1,641 illegal aliens convicted of homicide
• 4,975 illegal aliens convicted of child sex crimes
• 54,630 illegal aliens convicted of drunk driving
• 29,987 illegal aliens convicted of assault
• 9,834 illegal aliens convicted of burglary
• 4,423 illegal aliens convicted of robbery
• 3,740 illegal aliens convicted of sexual assault
• 1,294 illegal aliens convicted of kidnapping

Another 1,913 illegal aliens that were arrested by ICE had pending sex offense charges against them, while 387 illegal aliens had pending murder charges against them.

Overall, ICE agents arrested 158,581 illegal aliens last year, surpassing the more than 140,000 illegal alien arrests made last year and the 110,100 illegal alien arrests in the last year of President Obama’s tenure.

The nearly 160,000 illegal alien arrests in 2018 mark the highest number of arrests by ICE since Fiscal Year 2014. Of the almost 160,000 illegal aliens, 66 percent were convicted criminals or those with pending criminal charges which translates to about 140,000 of those arrested.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.