Trump Released Criminals to Jail Asylum Seekers

A bombshell new report from David J. Bier at Cato Institute

Author

Pablo Manríquez
November 01, 2024

David J. Bier at the Cato Institute has a bombshell new report that sheds light on an important contradiction in Donald Trump’s campaign promises on immigration, revealing thousands of convicted criminals were released into the United States so the administration could detain more legal asylum seekers.

  • KEY POINT: Between January 2017 and February 2020, the administration released over 58,000 individuals with criminal records, including more than 8,600 violent offenders and 306 murderers. This directly contradicts Trump’s claim that the mass detention and deportation of migrants will make America safer.

A TROUBLING TREND: The Trump administration booked far more noncriminals into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody than it did criminals, effectively swapping serious offenders for individuals without criminal charges. Here’s an excerpt from Bier’s report — 

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Candidate Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda will make the country less safe in two significant ways. First, it would remove a population that is less likely to commit crimes, ultimately making America’s neighborhoods less safe. For instance, Cato’s research has shown that both legal and illegal immigrants are nearly half as likely to commit crimes for which they are incarcerated in the United States. With unique data from Texas, we have found that immigrants—both legal and illegal—are less likely to commit homicides. Numerous studies have also found that immigration is linked to lower crime rates, homicide rates, and drug-related deaths.

With assist from Nicolae Butler