(NewsNation) — The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday it arrested 10 convicted criminals over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, including individuals with convictions for child sexual assault, murder and fraud.
Those arrested included Luis Miguel Gonzalez-Castillo, convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child in Harris County, Texas; Marvin McGregor, convicted of third-degree murder in Philadelphia; and Desiderio Marte Vargas, convicted of attempted murder in Paterson, New Jersey, according to a DHS press release.
“ICE law enforcement secures our streets every single day including over the holiday season,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “They rang in the New Year with the removal of more disgusting monsters including pedophiles, murderers and fraudsters from American neighborhoods.”
The arrestees came from Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Cuba. Other convictions included sex crimes involving minors, burglary, identity fraud and weapons possession.
However, the announcement comes as DHS faces scrutiny over discrepancies between its “worst of the worst” designation and the actual offenses of many detainees in its broader enforcement campaign.
DHS ‘Worst of the Worst’ list for Illinois includes traffic, weed offenses
A review by NewsNation local affiliate WGN of 238 Illinois arrests labeled “worst of the worst” found two people had only traffic offense convictions, while others’ sole convictions were for shoplifting and marijuana possession.
At least 30 were already serving time at the federal prison in Thomson when deportation orders came.
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“There is a massive trove of criminal data, and we are working to expand the scope and size of the website to bring maximum transparency to the American people,” McLaughlin said in a statement to WGN.
Justice Department records from “Operation Midway Blitz” this fall showed just 16 of 614 detainees at an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, were categorized as “high public safety risks.”
Many detainees had been living under asylum claims with temporary protected status granted by previous administrations before President Donald Trump revoked that status.