“Asked whether he is keeping his promise to deport "the worst of the worst, violent criminals" and "rapists": "that's what we're doing"; "we focus on the bad ones."”

The government's own internal data says otherwise: less than 2% of the roughly 393,000 people ICE arrested in Trump's first year back in office had homicide or sexual assault charges or convictions, and only 1.9% were even accused of gang membership, according to a DHS document obtained by CBS News covering Jan. 21, 2025 to Jan. 31, 2026.

About 153,000 of those arrested (nearly 40%) had no criminal record at all, accused only of civil immigration violations like overstaying a visa. Fewer than 14% had charges or convictions for any violent offense. The share of ICE arrestees with criminal histories actually FELL under Trump, from 72% in fiscal year 2024 under Biden to nearly 60%. Independent analyses reached the same conclusion. PolitiFact's fact-check of the 60 Minutes interview found ICE's own detention data contradicted the "worst of the worst" framing, and FactCheck.org documented that as arrests surged, the portion with no U.S. criminal record kept climbing, from 21.9% in Trump's first three months to over 40% by late 2025. Separate ICE deportation data showed less than 1% of deportees had murder convictions. "The internal DHS figures undermine frequent assertions by the Trump administration that its crackdown on illegal immigration is primarily targeting dangerous and violent criminals living in the U.S. illegally, people Mr. Trump and his lieutenants have regularly called the 'worst of the worst.'" — CBS News, reporting on an internal DHS document, Feb. 9, 2026