Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Philly had 10 homicides in September, the lowest monthly total in nearly a decade
The 10 killings in September were the fewest in a month since April 2015, police statistics show.
Philadelphia police officers at a crime scene in August.Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
by Chris Palmer and Dylan PurcellPublished Oct. 8, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET
There were fewer homicides recorded in Philadelphia this September than in any other month over the last nine years, according to an Inquirer analysis of police statistics — another demonstration of how violence has plummeted in 2024 after three years of record-setting gunfire.
Police reported 10 killings in September, the fewest in a month since April 2015, when six people were killed, city statistics show.
The low September total was just the latest example of how 2024 has marked a significant departure from the violence levels at the height of the pandemic. After averaging 44 homicides per month from 2020 through 2022, the Inquirer’s analysis shows, the city has experienced about 21 homicides per month this year — meaning the pace of killings has been effectively cut in half.
The decline has also been seen citywide: Some of the city’s most traditionally violent police districts — covering parts of North Philadelphia, Kensington, and Northwest Philadelphia — have seen year-to-date homicides drop by nearly 70% compared to three years ago.
And in September, there wasn’t a single homicide recorded in 16 of the city’s 22 police districts.
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The trend has not been limited to fatal shootings. Shootings in which someone was struck by a bullet but survived have declined by 37% compared to last year, the analysis shows.
In September, 72 people were wounded by gunfire. The city has only experienced a monthly total that low 19 times over the past 117 months, the Inquirer’s analysis shows.
City officials have said they aren’t certain what’s been driving the downturn this year — just as many were equally unsure why violence surged in 2020.
Commissioner Kevin Bethel said in an interview that police have been focusing for nearly two years on some of the city’s most violent districts, hoping to drive down violence overall by adding some patrol officers and increasing the focus on sections of neighborhoods where gunfire has remained stubbornly high.
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The clearance rates for homicides and shootings — the percentage of cases considered solved — have also increased this year, Bethel said, a development he described as an important component of accountability for people involved in violence. The homicide clearance rate is currently over 70%, Bethel said, up from about 47% in 2022.
“We continue to evaluate all of that,” he said.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Carl Day, a North Philadelphia pastor who mentors young people, said he believes the city’s investment in community-based organizations has also been a key factor — providing funds and opportunities directly to groups who know their neighborhoods best.
“These very same leaders who’ve been staples in their communities finally got the support,” Day said.
There are a number of ways to visualize this year’s striking decline in violence.
One example: During the peak of the shooting crisis, from 2020 through 2022, the city experienced 82 weeks in which at least 10 people were killed in homicides.
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Through September this year, that hasn’t happened once.
During that same three-year stretch, there wasn’t a single month in which police reported fewer than 20 homicides.
But that’s happened four times already this year.
And the peaks of violence during the pandemic were especially alarming: Between 2020 and 2022, there were ten separate months in which police reported at least 50 homicides.
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But so far this year, the highest monthly total has been 27 killings, in July.
The decline is equally stark when looking at individual police districts.
The 24th District, for example, covers much of Kensington and its open-air drug market, and has historically experienced some of the most concentrated violence in the entire nation.
But homicides there this year are down by nearly 45% — and have declined nearly 70% compared to three years ago.
North Philadelphia’s 22nd District has seen a similar reduction. In 2021, 56 people had been killed there through September.
This year, through the same date, 18 people have been slain.
Why have homicides dropped so significantly?
Bethel said police for two years have focused intensely on seeking to address violence in those districts and several others. The department has used statistics and mapping to guide its patrol strategy for many years, but Bethel said his predecessor — John Stanford, who served as interim commissioner before becoming Bethel’s top deputy — specifically emphasized adding patrol officers and new recruits into those areas beginning in 2023.
Still, Bethel said patrol strategy alone can’t explain the significant decrease. And he said it’s difficult to have certainty about why the numbers have dropped so dramatically.
Some of it could be society returning to a sense of pre-pandemic normalcy, he said, with schools, jobs, and the criminal justice systems all resuming operations without the disruptions or shutdowns that lingered for years. Isolating how any of those factors influenced a change in violence — or by how much — could take years to sort out.
In any case, Bethel said, the city’s attempts to address violence must remain an ongoing effort.
“It’s going take time,” he said. “One good year is not going to erase some of the most violent years we’ve ever seen in the city of Philadelphia.”
“I’m outraged that over 13,000, the exact number’s 13,099, convicted illegal, alien murderers are now on the loose. They allowed to come in, over 13,000 murderers, many of them murdering many more than one person. They’re murderers and they’re out there someplace. … They’re looking all over every city, every state they’re looking. We got 13,000 people that are worse than any criminal that we’ve been looking for a long time.”
“Listen to these numbers though. These are the official numbers. These are certified numbers. … In total during her term, it’s not even believable, she [Kamala Harris] let in 13,099 convicted murderers. Some of them had murdered 10 people, some murdered seven, one murdered six. I’m looking at these. These are stone-cold killers, and they let in people that are worse than any criminal we have.”
Trump has a shining new talking point — an outrageously false claim that was ginned up by right-wing media and then embraced by the GOP nominee as an “official” fact.
Trump then embellishes the “fact” with additional falsehoods. Notice how he said he’d seen a list and some on it had murdered 10 people? There is no such list detailing the killings committed by the 13,099 people. That’s just a figment of his imagination.
Here’s the truth: Most of these killers are in detention, not prowling the streets, and have been since before Trump was president. It’s false to claim they entered during the Biden-Harris administration.
The Facts
On Sept. 25, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director P.J. Lechleitner responded to a request from Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Tex.), made in March, for data on the number of noncitizens with criminal convictions on ICE’s non-detained docket. As of July 21, he wrote, there were 662,566 people with criminal histories (convicted or pending) not detained by ICE. In a breakdown by crime, he noted 13,099 people convicted of homicide were not detained by ICE.
Two days later, Gonzales tweeted the letter, highlighting the number of killers. “Americans deserve to be SAFE in our own communities,” he wrote. His tweet was immediately interpreted by right-wing media and the Trump campaign as saying these killers entered the country during the Biden administration and were on the loose and roaming the country.
But the letter did not say that these criminals were not in custody. The non-detained docket refers only to individuals not detained by ICE. In fact, in the same letter, Lechleitner told Gonzales that ICE’s detention capacity was 41,500 beds, showing there was not enough space to house these criminals. As of July 21, 277 beds were occupied by convicted killers. The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that ICE could not detain people indefinitely.
So, with so little space available in ICE detention centers, many criminals convicted of serious crimes are shipped to another facility to serve out their terms. Some noncitizens on the non-detained docket may participate in the agency’s Alternatives to Detention programs, which generally track people with GPS monitoring devices or the SmartLINK phone app, but murderers would not qualify. A 2021 Biden administration memo made detention a priority for noncitizens who pose “a current threat to public safety.”
Moreover, these “noncitizens” include people who entered the country legally with a long-term nonimmigrant visa or earned permanent U.S. residency but were convicted of a crime. There’s no breakdown about how many on the non-detained docket entered the country illegally, but one cannot assume, as Trump does, that these are all undocumented immigrants.
The letter also did not say when the people on the list entered the country.
“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement released Sept. 29. “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. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”
Finally, some noncitizens may have served their time but cannot be deported because the United States lacks repatriation agreements with the country of origin, such as China or Cuba.
One complicating factor is that ICE does not release these numbers on a regular basis or by presidential term, making comparisons by presidential term difficult. As far as we can tell, ICE has never released such specific details about the types of crimes committed, so it’s impossible to say how many murderers were on the non-detained docket during Trump’s term. But we can look at the overall numbers — which show the criminal element barely increased even as the number of migrants crossing the border soared under President Joe Biden.
Lechleitner wrote that of those who are not being held by ICE as of July 21 — 3½ years after Biden became president — 425,431 are convicted criminals. About one-third were convicted of violent or sex crimes; other categories include traffic offenses, drugs, fraud, immigration, taxes, and other nonviolent offenses. (An additional 222,141 people have pending charges.)
Here’s the available comparison figures for convicted criminals on the non-detained docket we could find:
August 2016 (five months before Trump became president): 368,574
June 5, 2021 (about five months after Biden became president): 405,786
Dec. 30, 2022 (23 months after Biden became president): 407,983
In effect, from 2016 to 2021 (almost five years, including all of Trump’s term), the figure grew by 10 percent. And then in just over three years of Biden’s term, the figure grew less than 5 percent. So it appears the number is growing slightly more slowly under Biden than Trump, even with a jump in 2023 and 2024.
Meanwhile, the total caseload count of the non-detained docket for ICE grew almost 90 percent, from 3.3 million on Sept. 30, 2020, to 6.2 million as of Sept. 30, 2023, according to ICE’s 2023 annual report. That disparity certainly undercuts Trump’s repeated claim that most of the migrants who have entered the United States are criminals.
We can’t find any example of Trump previously speaking about the non-detained docket, but if it’s as serious a problem as he claims — “I’m outraged” — he ignored it during his presidency.
ICE data analyzed by the Cato Institute found that the Biden administration has released fewer people with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges than the Trump administration.
Lechleitner’s letter noted that the Biden administration has stepped up the deportation of noncitizens. “From mid-May 2023 through the end of July 2024, DHS removed or returned more than 893,600 individuals, including more than 138,300 individuals in family units,” the letter said. “The majority of all individuals encountered at the Southwest Border over the past three years have been removed, returned, or expelled.”
A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to a request to explain Trump’s use of this data.
The Pinocchio Test
This is another shameful example of Trump weaponizing government data on immigrants to mislead Americans. Contrary to what Trump claims, the Biden-Harris administration did not release more than 13,000 murderers who entered the country in the past three years.
The data only shows they are not detained by ICE; they are more likely in state or federal prison serving their time. Moreover, the number of convicted criminals on the non-detained docket is not much bigger than it was under Trump, indicating they have been on it for a long time.
why do magats think democrats hate america? like where the fuck does this bullshit come from? I've heard this from some of the morons on the right in canada too, that JT hates canada. why would anyone want a job where they are the head of something they despise? this reminds me of the WWE storyline where Vince brought back the NWO to kill his own company. It's that absurd.
They know it's not true. Just saying this as a generality and to one one here in particular, it's just shit talk to try to get people riled up. It's adults behaving like elementary and middle school kids. Yes, absurd is the word.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
why do magats think democrats hate america? like where the fuck does this bullshit come from? I've heard this from some of the morons on the right in canada too, that JT hates canada. why would anyone want a job where they are the head of something they despise? this reminds me of the WWE storyline where Vince brought back the NWO to kill his own company. It's that absurd.
People don't think Democrats hate America. People think the Democrat elites and leaders hate America.
Obama - let's fundamentally change America H Clinton - the deplorables Harris - import murders and rapists to roam free in America Harris - censor free speech Harris - take away our freedom and liberty; the Government knows best. some simple examples: no gas stove, no gas car, no gas lawn mower Harris - get the vac or lose your job
why do magats think democrats hate america? like where the fuck does this bullshit come from? I've heard this from some of the morons on the right in canada too, that JT hates canada. why would anyone want a job where they are the head of something they despise? this reminds me of the WWE storyline where Vince brought back the NWO to kill his own company. It's that absurd.
People don't think Democrats hate America. People think the Democrat elites and leaders hate America.
Obama - let's fundamentally change America H Clinton - the deplorables Harris - import murders and rapists to roam free in America Harris - censor free speech Harris - take away our freedom and liberty; the Government knows best. some simple examples: no gas stove, no gas car, no gas lawn mower Harris - get the vac or lose your job
Come on, that just as absurd. You can't possibly believe thee people you listed hate America. When you throw out shit like that, you're just not making sense. I guess it's all some kind of game.
zzzzzzzzzzzz
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
why do magats think democrats hate america? like where the fuck does this bullshit come from? I've heard this from some of the morons on the right in canada too, that JT hates canada. why would anyone want a job where they are the head of something they despise? this reminds me of the WWE storyline where Vince brought back the NWO to kill his own company. It's that absurd.
People don't think Democrats hate America. People think the Democrat elites and leaders hate America.
Obama - let's fundamentally change America H Clinton - the deplorables Harris - import murders and rapists to roam free in America Harris - censor free speech Harris - take away our freedom and liberty; the Government knows best. some simple examples: no gas stove, no gas car, no gas lawn mower Harris - get the vac or lose your job
Donald Trump - literally tried to overturn an election.....but somehow, checks notes, does not hate America.
why do magats think democrats hate america? like where the fuck does this bullshit come from? I've heard this from some of the morons on the right in canada too, that JT hates canada. why would anyone want a job where they are the head of something they despise? this reminds me of the WWE storyline where Vince brought back the NWO to kill his own company. It's that absurd.
People don't think Democrats hate America. People think the Democrat elites and leaders hate America.
Obama - let's fundamentally change America H Clinton - the deplorables Harris - import murders and rapists to roam free in America Harris - censor free speech Harris - take away our freedom and liberty; the Government knows best. some simple examples: no gas stove, no gas car, no gas lawn mower Harris - get the vac or lose your job
Trump's entire platform is that America is a shithole and he, and only he, can MAGA. Every single politician runs on improvement, whether it's a positive message (democrats) or a negative one (republicans). What do you want them to say, "Elect me, everything will stay the same!"?
Sure, should we fact check the Washington Post....
I agree, the numbers can be misleading. Until I get other data, doesn't really change. Certainly the Washington Post can't be trusted. Bottomline, Harris let in +20million illegals, without vetting them. She hates Americans and America.
why do magats think democrats hate america? like where the fuck does this bullshit come from? I've heard this from some of the morons on the right in canada too, that JT hates canada. why would anyone want a job where they are the head of something they despise? this reminds me of the WWE storyline where Vince brought back the NWO to kill his own company. It's that absurd.
People don't think Democrats hate America. People think the Democrat elites and leaders hate America.
Obama - let's fundamentally change America H Clinton - the deplorables Harris - import murders and rapists to roam free in America Harris - censor free speech Harris - take away our freedom and liberty; the Government knows best. some simple examples: no gas stove, no gas car, no gas lawn mower Harris - get the vac or lose your job
Obama-hope and change. other words for progress and positivity. Clinton-people who vote trump are deplorable. for the most part, she has been proven correct. harris/biden-co sponsored the toughest immigration bill in history. Trump told R's in congress to kill it so he can run on immigration. proves Trump hates american and only loves himself. Harris-free speech? wtf? Harris-it's called moving away from fossil fuels. you don't believe trump's "clean coal" bullshit, do you? Harris-that has been a mandate for decades. Kids got jabs at fucking school or they weren't allowed to attend. You didn't care then cuz fox news didn't tell you to.
Sure, should we fact check the Washington Post....
I agree, the numbers can be misleading. Until I get other data, doesn't really change. Certainly the Washington Post can't be trusted. Bottomline, Harris let in +20million illegals, without vetting them. She hates Americans and America.
ICE said or was decades of data, not the Post. ICE was the one that produced the data to start. Are you seriously this misinformed?
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," DHS spokesperson Luis Miranda said in a statement to CBS News.
If the numbers look fake, that's because they are.
Anyone with less than half a brain knows that numbers have a liberal bias.
Just like facts and the weather.
They weren’t supposed to fact check me! 😩
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
In anticipation of all the misinformation floating around about the upcoming landfall of Milton, these are the representatives from Florida who voted against funding for FEMA last week: Representative Aaron Bean Representative Kat Cammack Representative Byron Donalds Representative Matt Gaetz Representative Laurel Lee Representative Anna Paulina Luna Representative Cory Mills Representative Bill Posey Representative Mike Waltz Representative Daniel Webster
Good luck, Florida, hope you've got bootstraps on your waders.
Sure, should we fact check the Washington Post....
I agree, the numbers can be misleading. Until I get other data, doesn't really change. Certainly the Washington Post can't be trusted. Bottomline, Harris let in +20million illegals, without vetting them. She hates Americans and America.
This is a real bury your head in the sand type post. Just ignoring everything in the face of facts, and then claim everyone else’s facts are wrong and yours are right. Some real desperate flop sweat claims with the flimsiest of support too.
why do magats think democrats hate america? like where the fuck does this bullshit come from? I've heard this from some of the morons on the right in canada too, that JT hates canada. why would anyone want a job where they are the head of something they despise? this reminds me of the WWE storyline where Vince brought back the NWO to kill his own company. It's that absurd.
People don't think Democrats hate America. People think the Democrat elites and leaders hate America.
Obama - let's fundamentally change America H Clinton - the deplorables Harris - import murders and rapists to roam free in America Harris - censor free speech Harris - take away our freedom and liberty; the Government knows best. some simple examples: no gas stove, no gas car, no gas lawn mower Harris - get the vac or lose your job
Comments
Trump’s outrageously false claim of 13,000 migrant murderers ‘on the loose’ - The Washington Post
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
compared to
13,099
that is like less than .002% are murderers
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
www.headstonesband.com
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
https://www.inquirer.com/crime/gun-violence-crime-rate-philadelphia-2024-20241008.html
Philly had 10 homicides in September, the lowest monthly total in nearly a decade
The 10 killings in September were the fewest in a month since April 2015, police statistics show.
by Chris Palmer and Dylan PurcellPublished Oct. 8, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET
There were fewer homicides recorded in Philadelphia this September than in any other month over the last nine years, according to an Inquirer analysis of police statistics — another demonstration of how violence has plummeted in 2024 after three years of record-setting gunfire.
Police reported 10 killings in September, the fewest in a month since April 2015, when six people were killed, city statistics show.
The low September total was just the latest example of how 2024 has marked a significant departure from the violence levels at the height of the pandemic. After averaging 44 homicides per month from 2020 through 2022, the Inquirer’s analysis shows, the city has experienced about 21 homicides per month this year — meaning the pace of killings has been effectively cut in half.
The decline has also been seen citywide: Some of the city’s most traditionally violent police districts — covering parts of North Philadelphia, Kensington, and Northwest Philadelphia — have seen year-to-date homicides drop by nearly 70% compared to three years ago.
And in September, there wasn’t a single homicide recorded in 16 of the city’s 22 police districts.
The trend has not been limited to fatal shootings. Shootings in which someone was struck by a bullet but survived have declined by 37% compared to last year, the analysis shows.
In September, 72 people were wounded by gunfire. The city has only experienced a monthly total that low 19 times over the past 117 months, the Inquirer’s analysis shows.
City officials have said they aren’t certain what’s been driving the downturn this year — just as many were equally unsure why violence surged in 2020.
Commissioner Kevin Bethel said in an interview that police have been focusing for nearly two years on some of the city’s most violent districts, hoping to drive down violence overall by adding some patrol officers and increasing the focus on sections of neighborhoods where gunfire has remained stubbornly high.
The clearance rates for homicides and shootings — the percentage of cases considered solved — have also increased this year, Bethel said, a development he described as an important component of accountability for people involved in violence. The homicide clearance rate is currently over 70%, Bethel said, up from about 47% in 2022.
“We continue to evaluate all of that,” he said.
Carl Day, a North Philadelphia pastor who mentors young people, said he believes the city’s investment in community-based organizations has also been a key factor — providing funds and opportunities directly to groups who know their neighborhoods best.
“These very same leaders who’ve been staples in their communities finally got the support,” Day said.
Still, although the decline in violence has been significant, Bethel acknowledged that violence remains a key problem for the city. Just last week, to begin October, a 17-year-old girl was killed at a party in North Philadelphia, a 42-year-old man was shot near the Fashion District in Center City, a 17-year-old was shot on a SEPTA bus, and an off-duty homicide detective fatally shot a 54-year-old man in Northeast Philadelphia.
Where have homicides declined?
There are a number of ways to visualize this year’s striking decline in violence.
One example: During the peak of the shooting crisis, from 2020 through 2022, the city experienced 82 weeks in which at least 10 people were killed in homicides.
Through September this year, that hasn’t happened once.
During that same three-year stretch, there wasn’t a single month in which police reported fewer than 20 homicides.
But that’s happened four times already this year.
And the peaks of violence during the pandemic were especially alarming: Between 2020 and 2022, there were ten separate months in which police reported at least 50 homicides.
But so far this year, the highest monthly total has been 27 killings, in July.
The decline is equally stark when looking at individual police districts.
The 24th District, for example, covers much of Kensington and its open-air drug market, and has historically experienced some of the most concentrated violence in the entire nation.
But homicides there this year are down by nearly 45% — and have declined nearly 70% compared to three years ago.
North Philadelphia’s 22nd District has seen a similar reduction. In 2021, 56 people had been killed there through September.
This year, through the same date, 18 people have been slain.
Why have homicides dropped so significantly?
Bethel said police for two years have focused intensely on seeking to address violence in those districts and several others. The department has used statistics and mapping to guide its patrol strategy for many years, but Bethel said his predecessor — John Stanford, who served as interim commissioner before becoming Bethel’s top deputy — specifically emphasized adding patrol officers and new recruits into those areas beginning in 2023.
Still, Bethel said patrol strategy alone can’t explain the significant decrease. And he said it’s difficult to have certainty about why the numbers have dropped so dramatically.
Some of it could be society returning to a sense of pre-pandemic normalcy, he said, with schools, jobs, and the criminal justice systems all resuming operations without the disruptions or shutdowns that lingered for years. Isolating how any of those factors influenced a change in violence — or by how much — could take years to sort out.
In any case, Bethel said, the city’s attempts to address violence must remain an ongoing effort.
“It’s going take time,” he said. “One good year is not going to erase some of the most violent years we’ve ever seen in the city of Philadelphia.”
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
“I’m outraged that over 13,000, the exact number’s 13,099, convicted illegal, alien murderers are now on the loose. They allowed to come in, over 13,000 murderers, many of them murdering many more than one person. They’re murderers and they’re out there someplace. … They’re looking all over every city, every state they’re looking. We got 13,000 people that are worse than any criminal that we’ve been looking for a long time.”
— Former president Donald Trump, in a campaign rally in Waunakee, Wis., Oct. 1
“Listen to these numbers though. These are the official numbers. These are certified numbers. … In total during her term, it’s not even believable, she [Kamala Harris] let in 13,099 convicted murderers. Some of them had murdered 10 people, some murdered seven, one murdered six. I’m looking at these. These are stone-cold killers, and they let in people that are worse than any criminal we have.”
— Trump, in a campaign rally in Erie, Pa., Sept. 29
Trump then embellishes the “fact” with additional falsehoods. Notice how he said he’d seen a list and some on it had murdered 10 people? There is no such list detailing the killings committed by the 13,099 people. That’s just a figment of his imagination.
Here’s the truth: Most of these killers are in detention, not prowling the streets, and have been since before Trump was president. It’s false to claim they entered during the Biden-Harris administration.
The Facts
On Sept. 25, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director P.J. Lechleitner responded to a request from Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Tex.), made in March, for data on the number of noncitizens with criminal convictions on ICE’s non-detained docket. As of July 21, he wrote, there were 662,566 people with criminal histories (convicted or pending) not detained by ICE. In a breakdown by crime, he noted 13,099 people convicted of homicide were not detained by ICE.
Two days later, Gonzales tweeted the letter, highlighting the number of killers. “Americans deserve to be SAFE in our own communities,” he wrote. His tweet was immediately interpreted by right-wing media and the Trump campaign as saying these killers entered the country during the Biden administration and were on the loose and roaming the country.
But the letter did not say that these criminals were not in custody. The non-detained docket refers only to individuals not detained by ICE. In fact, in the same letter, Lechleitner told Gonzales that ICE’s detention capacity was 41,500 beds, showing there was not enough space to house these criminals. As of July 21, 277 beds were occupied by convicted killers. The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that ICE could not detain people indefinitely.
So, with so little space available in ICE detention centers, many criminals convicted of serious crimes are shipped to another facility to serve out their terms. Some noncitizens on the non-detained docket may participate in the agency’s Alternatives to Detention programs, which generally track people with GPS monitoring devices or the SmartLINK phone app, but murderers would not qualify. A 2021 Biden administration memo made detention a priority for noncitizens who pose “a current threat to public safety.”
Moreover, these “noncitizens” include people who entered the country legally with a long-term nonimmigrant visa or earned permanent U.S. residency but were convicted of a crime. There’s no breakdown about how many on the non-detained docket entered the country illegally, but one cannot assume, as Trump does, that these are all undocumented immigrants.
The letter also did not say when the people on the list entered the country.
“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement released Sept. 29. “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. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”
Finally, some noncitizens may have served their time but cannot be deported because the United States lacks repatriation agreements with the country of origin, such as China or Cuba.
One complicating factor is that ICE does not release these numbers on a regular basis or by presidential term, making comparisons by presidential term difficult. As far as we can tell, ICE has never released such specific details about the types of crimes committed, so it’s impossible to say how many murderers were on the non-detained docket during Trump’s term. But we can look at the overall numbers — which show the criminal element barely increased even as the number of migrants crossing the border soared under President Joe Biden.
Lechleitner wrote that of those who are not being held by ICE as of July 21 — 3½ years after Biden became president — 425,431 are convicted criminals. About one-third were convicted of violent or sex crimes; other categories include traffic offenses, drugs, fraud, immigration, taxes, and other nonviolent offenses. (An additional 222,141 people have pending charges.)
Here’s the available comparison figures for convicted criminals on the non-detained docket we could find:
In effect, from 2016 to 2021 (almost five years, including all of Trump’s term), the figure grew by 10 percent. And then in just over three years of Biden’s term, the figure grew less than 5 percent. So it appears the number is growing slightly more slowly under Biden than Trump, even with a jump in 2023 and 2024.
Meanwhile, the total caseload count of the non-detained docket for ICE grew almost 90 percent, from 3.3 million on Sept. 30, 2020, to 6.2 million as of Sept. 30, 2023, according to ICE’s 2023 annual report. That disparity certainly undercuts Trump’s repeated claim that most of the migrants who have entered the United States are criminals.
We can’t find any example of Trump previously speaking about the non-detained docket, but if it’s as serious a problem as he claims — “I’m outraged” — he ignored it during his presidency.
ICE data analyzed by the Cato Institute found that the Biden administration has released fewer people with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges than the Trump administration.
Lechleitner’s letter noted that the Biden administration has stepped up the deportation of noncitizens. “From mid-May 2023 through the end of July 2024, DHS removed or returned more than 893,600 individuals, including more than 138,300 individuals in family units,” the letter said. “The majority of all individuals encountered at the Southwest Border over the past three years have been removed, returned, or expelled.”
A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to a request to explain Trump’s use of this data.
The Pinocchio Test
This is another shameful example of Trump weaponizing government data on immigrants to mislead Americans. Contrary to what Trump claims, the Biden-Harris administration did not release more than 13,000 murderers who entered the country in the past three years.
The data only shows they are not detained by ICE; they are more likely in state or federal prison serving their time. Moreover, the number of convicted criminals on the non-detained docket is not much bigger than it was under Trump, indicating they have been on it for a long time.
Trump earns Four Pinocchios.
Four Pinocchios
They know it's not true. Just saying this as a generality and to one one here in particular, it's just shit talk to try to get people riled up. It's adults behaving like elementary and middle school kids.
Yes, absurd is the word.
Obama - let's fundamentally change America
H Clinton - the deplorables
Harris - import murders and rapists to roam free in America
Harris - censor free speech
Harris - take away our freedom and liberty; the Government knows best. some simple examples: no gas stove, no gas car, no gas lawn mower
Harris - get the vac or lose your job
www.headstonesband.com
And murders were not even a category, the overwhelming number were traffic violations.
I agree, the numbers can be misleading. Until I get other data, doesn't really change. Certainly the Washington Post can't be trusted. Bottomline, Harris let in +20million illegals, without vetting them. She hates Americans and America.
Clinton-people who vote trump are deplorable. for the most part, she has been proven correct.
harris/biden-co sponsored the toughest immigration bill in history. Trump told R's in congress to kill it so he can run on immigration. proves Trump hates american and only loves himself.
Harris-free speech? wtf?
Harris-it's called moving away from fossil fuels. you don't believe trump's "clean coal" bullshit, do you?
Harris-that has been a mandate for decades. Kids got jabs at fucking school or they weren't allowed to attend. You didn't care then cuz fox news didn't tell you to.
www.headstonesband.com
Just like facts and the weather.
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
https://newrepublic.com/post/186917/florida-republican-anna-paulina-luna-harris-desantis-hurricane-response
It's a tough job but, what the hell, somebody's got to do it.
I bet she’s in the room with you right now.