(WGN) — When the Trump administration puts out splashy social media videos highlighting the so-called “worst of the worst” it’s arresting and deporting, it would be easy to assume most are killers, rapists and pedophiles who were running free.
However, a review from NewsNation affiliate WGN of a new website highlighting Illinois arrests labeled by Homeland Security as “the worst of the worst” also includes a few people identified only as having convictions for shoplifting and traffic offenses. Many others were already in prison when the deportation order came.
“Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, the hardworking men and women of DHS and ICE are fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations – starting with the worst of the worst – including the illegal aliens use see here,” Homeland Security’s new website reads.
Five people on the list of Illinois arrestees had convictions for homicide, according to Homeland Security. Others had convictions for sexual assault, rape, driving under the influence and lewd acts with a minor. DHS did not disclose whether those crimes took place locally or out of the country.
Dozens ‘arrested’ were already in prison
Records show at least 30 of the 238 arrests listed in Illinois were people who were serving time at the federal prison in Thomson, Illinois. Most were there for drug offenses.
29 of those federal prisoners had earned “good conduct time,” which allowed them to be released – and deported – before serving their full sentence.
Only one person deported directly from the Thomson prison had served their full sentence, according to a prison spokesperson.
Federal inmates have a variety of methods – including the First Step Act signed into law during President Trump’s first term – to get time shaved off their sentences for good behavior while behind bars.
Less serious crimes
Two people included on the Illinois “worst of the worst” list only have convictions listed for traffic offenses. One man’s only listed conviction is for shoplifting. DHS listed another man’s only conviction as being for marijuana possession.
“DHS’s Worst of the Worst website only lists a fraction of the hundreds of thousands criminal illegal aliens arrested since President Trump took office,” said Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to WGN Investigates. “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.”
‘Shooters’ deported before facing charges
WGN Investigates has previously reported that ICE deported two men it labeled as the “shooters” in a Chicago mass shooting that left three people dead and five others injured before they were even charged with the crime.
In this case, deportation to Venezuela appeared to equal freedom for at least one – but likely both – of the men.
A Homeland Security investigator wrote in a court declaration the man’s “current whereabouts unknown.”
Few ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ arrestees were ‘high risks’
Homeland Security has faced criticism for overstating the dangers posed by some of the nearly 3,000 people it has arrested during “Operation Midway Blitz.”
This fall, Justice Department lawyers were forced to produce a list of people detained at the ICE processing center in Broadview and it revealed that just 16 of 614 people were categorized by DHS as “high public safety risks.”
DHS officials are also fond of labeling everyone they arrest as “criminal illegal aliens” when the reality is more nuanced.
Many of the people now being arrested and deported were here under asylum claims and had been provided with temporary protected status under previous presidential administrations. Trump stripped that status, instantly removing protections for people who were following a legal process toward residency.