Why Donald Trump’s claim that Kamala Harris ‘let in’ 13,099 convicted killers is False

Throughout the presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump has said, without evidence, that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been letting in "millions of people from jails, from prisons." 

He has repeated the term "migrant crime," even though violent crime is down in the U.S., and studies show that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens.

Now, aiming to prove his point, Trump is citing Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics.

"These are certified numbers," Trump said at a Sept. 29 rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, later adding, "Kamala let in the 13,099 convicted murderers and opposes all efforts to find them and to remove them." 

There are new official numbers about the number of immigrants convicted of crimes who are in the U.S. They come from a Sept. 25 letter Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner wrote to Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas. There are 13,099 immigrants convicted of homicide who are on the agency’s nondetained docket, meaning they’re not in immigration detention, according to the letter. 

But "the data in this letter is being misinterpreted," a Department of Homeland Security statement said.

Most of the 13,099 people likely didn’t enter the U.S. in the last three and a half years; the full data goes back 40 years. Many of them are not in immigration detention because they’re in law enforcement custody serving sentences. And a Supreme Court ruling, not the Biden-Harris administration, said that people cannot be indefinitely in immigration detention. So, people from countries that do not accept deportation flights must be released.

Asked for evidence behind Trump’s claim, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said everyone who crosses the U.S. border illegally is a "criminal." 

In his letter to Gonzales, Lechleitner detailed the number of immigrants with criminal convictions who are on the agency’s nondetained docket, meaning they’re not in immigration detention.

The docket includes people who illegally cross the border and are released to await immigration court proceedings. Because detention space is limited, not everyone who crosses the border illegally can be detained. People on the nondetained docket are still under the agency’s supervision, however. Immigration officials can track them through a smartphone app, GPS tracking or ankle monitors.

As of July 21, the docket showed 425,431 noncitizens convicted of crimes, 13,099 of whom had a homicide conviction. Other criminal convictions included traffic offenses, assault and robbery.

Lechleitner’s letter doesn’t clarify whether people were criminally convicted inside or outside the U.S. But U.S. immigration authorities usually prioritize people who cross the border illegally and have criminal convictions in their countries of origin for detention.

Not everyone on the nondetained docket entered the U.S. illegally. Legal permanent residents who commit crimes can also end up on the docket.

The data in Lechleitner’s letter does not represent only people who entered the U.S. under the Biden-Harris administration. 

Featured Fact-check

Kamala Harris

stated on October 23, 2024 in a CNN town hall

"As of today, we have cut the flow of immigration by over half."

"The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration," the Homeland Security statement said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not provide the year people who were convicted of crimes entered the U.S. So, it’s unclear how many of the 13,099 people convicted of homicide entered under the Biden-Harris administration.

But if the 13,099 noncitizens had all entered in the past three years, "migrants would have accounted for about one-third of all homicide convictions from 2021 through 2023, Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies for the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank wrote. "That’s obviously not true."

Overall, the number of people on the nondetained docket has more than doubled under Biden’s administration. In fiscal year 2020, there were 3.3 million people on the docket. As of May 2024, there were 7 million people. 

The slice of nondetained people convicted of criminal convictions has not escalated as quickly. In August 2016, 368,574 noncitizens convicted of crimes were on the agency’s nondetained docket, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General reported. As of June 2021, there were 405,786 people. There are now about 425,000.

There are several reasons why people convicted of crimes are not in immigration detention. 

People are serving time in prison: Many people convicted of crimes are in federal, state or local law enforcement custody, serving time in prison, the Homeland Security statement said. Because they are not in an immigration detention center, they are on the nondetained docket. But that doesn’t mean they’re roaming the country.

After people are released from law enforcement custody, they generally go into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. A 2021 Biden administration memo instructs immigration authorities to prioritize detention for people who threaten public safety. The Department of Homeland Security told PolitiFact it had deported 180,000 noncitizens with criminal convictions since January 2021.

However, there are local and state jurisdictions with "sanctuary" policies, meaning state and local officials limit their cooperation with immigration authorities. 

People cannot be indefinitely in immigration detention: Immigration law requires people convicted of aggravated felonies, such as homicide, be detained. However, the Supreme Court in 2001 ruled that people cannot be detained indefinitely. 

This ruling had ramifications for people who come from countries that do not accept U.S. deportations, such as Cuba, China or Vietnam, Nowrasteh wrote.

Whereas people from another country may be detained by immigration officials and deported after serving time in the U.S. following a conviction, people from one of these countries who have completed their sentences must be released into the U.S. "because there is no repatriation agreement with their countries of origin or they routinely violate those agreements," Nowrasteh wrote. 

Trump said in a Pennsylvania campaign rally that Harris "let in the 13,099 convicted murderers, and opposes all efforts to find them and to remove them."

In a letter, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said there are 13,099 noncitizens convicted of homicide who are not in immigration detention. But the data represents people who entered the country in the past 40 years; there is no evidence that all 13,099 people entered under the Biden-Harris administration. 

Many people are not in immigration detention because they’re in law enforcement custody serving sentences. 

Once they’ve served their sentence, immigration law generally requires the detention of people convicted of aggravated felonies, such as homicide. But a Supreme Court ruling, not the Biden-Harris administration, said people cannot be held indefinitely in immigration detention. So, people from countries that do not accept deportation flights must be released.

We rate this claim False.