More than 662,000 illegal immigrants on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s docket have criminal convictions or are awaiting a verdict, including more than 13,000 convicted murderers.

The revelation stems from data released by ICE on Wednesday at the request of Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, who in March requested “information on illegal immigrants on ICE’s docket to better understand how many potential criminals were being released into our communities.”

Gonzales posted the data he received from ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner to his X page on Friday.

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“As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket – 13,099 criminally convicted MURDERERS!” Gonzales wrote. “Americans deserve to be SAFE in our own communities.”

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“U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement recognizes the importance of its relationships with its law enforcement partners to carry out its mission,” Lechleitner wrote to Gonzales. “In recent years, however, as you know, some jurisdictions have reduced their cooperation with ICE, to include refusal to honor ICE detainer requests, even for noncitizens who have been convicted of serious felonies and pose an ongoing threat to public safety.

“ICE recognizes that some jurisdictions are concerned that cooperating with federal immigration officials will erode trust with immigrant communities and make it harder for local law enforcement to serve those populations,” the letter read. “However, ‘sanctuary’ policies can end up shielding dangerous criminals, who often victimize those same communities.”

According to ICE data, “As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket, which includes those detained by ICE, and on the agency’s non-detained docket,” Lechleitner wrote.

“Of those, 435,719 were convicted criminals, and 226,847 have pending criminal charges.”

A breakdown of the data included shows only 10,288 convicted criminals and 4,706 with pending criminal charges are currently detained by ICE, while 425,431 convicted criminals and 222,141 with pending criminal charges are not detained.

Illegal immigrants on the docket who are not detained include 13,099 convicted murderers and 1,845 with pending murder charges, as well as 15,811 convicted of sexual assaults, and 4,250 with pending sex assault charges.

Others roaming free include 162,231 convicted of assault, 56,533 with dangerous drug convictions, 5,797 convicted of fraud, 18,234 convicted of larceny, 14,301 convicted of burglary, 13,423 with weapons convictions 10,031 convicted of robbery, 9,461 with non-assaultive sexual convictions, 2,521 kidnappers, and 217 convicted of extortion.

“Regarding the number of declined detainers since FY 2021, from October 1, 2020, through July 22, 2024, ICE lifted 24,796 detainers,” Lechleitner wrote. “Of those, 23,591 were declined by state and local law enforcement agencies, and 1,205 were lifted due to insufficient notice to ICE.

“Additionally, from October 1, 2020, through July 22, 2024, (ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations) issued 2,897 detainers that were declined by state or local law enforcement agencies and where the subject of the detainer had a subsequent apprehension by ERO.”

National Review highlighted what the numbers mean to local communities in Michigan and elsewhere, noting 25-year-old previously deported illegal immigrant Brandon Ortiz-Vite recently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, carjacking, and weapons offenses in the murder of Grand Rapids’ Ruby Garcia.

Ortiz-Vite was once approved for President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children from deportation, but his DACA status expired in May 2019. He was deported by Donald Trump’s administration in September 2020 following a string of crimes including driving while intoxicated and burglary, though it remains unclear when he returned to the U.S.

In the months since Ortiz-Vite’s arrest in March, other illegal immigrants in Michigan have been arrested for multiple sex assaults in Ann Arbor, a fatal hit-and-run in Grand Rapids, soliciting sex from minors in Shiawassee County, sexual conduct with a 16-year-old girl in Livingston County, and breaking into a home in Sturgis to molest two girls under the age of 13.

Other examples include two illegal immigrants from Venezuela charged in the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Houston, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador currently incarcerated in Connecticut after admitting to four murders, two rapes and other crimes, and an illegal immigrant serving life in prison in Georgia for murdering a whistleblower who revealed his multi-million dollar scheme to employ illegal immigrants.

“It may be shocking to hear that the Biden-Harris administration is actively releasing tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens into our communities, but their own numbers conclusively prove this to be the case. This defies all common sense,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green told Fox News. “Under President Biden and his ‘border czar,’ Vice President Harris, DHS law enforcement has been directed to mass-release illegal aliens whom they know have criminal convictions or are facing charges for serious crimes—and these dangerous, destructive individuals are making their way into every city and state in this country. How many more Americans need to die or be victimized before this administration is forced to abide by the laws they swore to uphold? This is madness. It is something no civilized, well-functioning society should tolerate.”

The Department of Homeland Security disputed the numbers in a statement to the news site.

“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,” a spokesperson said. “It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”

The spokesperson pointed to a decline in arrivals since June, and over 180,000 noncitizens with criminal convictions removed since Jan. 2021.

Federal data shows removal of illegal immigrants nearly doubled to 142,580 in fiscal year 2023 from 72,177 in fiscal year 2022, and 59,011 in fiscal year 2021.

In fiscal year 2019, former President Donald Trump’s last year in office, 267,258 were removed, Fox News reports.

The number of illegal immigrants on ICE’s non detained docket has jumped from 3.7 million in fiscal year 2021 to more than 7 million in fiscal year 2023.

“Border Czar Kamala Harris has had nearly four years to protect America and failed,” RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement, told Fox News. “She’s allowing tens of thousands of murderers and rapists to roam free. She puts criminals first and the safety and security of you and your family last.”