When less than 7% of those deported are violent offenders, the President’s “law and order” campaign isn’t about safety — it’s about fear. And police leaders know it.
As someone who spent over thirty years in policing, I know the difference between justice and vengeance — and today, we’re crossing that line again.
Let’s start with the facts. According to the most recent data, only 6.9% of undocumented people detained by ICE are convicted of violent crimes. Yet the President continues to tell the nation that we are “removing murderers, rapists, and drug dealers” from our streets. That is simply not true.
I have no hesitation saying that dangerous people — regardless of citizenship — should be removed and prosecuted. But what is happening today is not that. It’s the mass targeting of working men and women — many of them long-settled, tax-paying residents — whose only offense is seeking legal status in a system broken beyond recognition.
This is not how a free people treat their neighbors. This is not justice. It is cruelty dressed as law.
A Call to My Colleagues
To my colleagues in law enforcement — chiefs, sheriffs, and command staff — this is your leadership test. You know the difference between enforcing the law and weaponizing it. You know that policing in a democracy requires consent, restraint, and legitimacy — not obedience to political power.
When masked federal agents raid homes, detain nonviolent workers, and terrorize communities under the pretense of “public safety,” they are not protecting anyone. They are eroding the fragile trust that every good police officer depends on to do the job right.
We cannot be bystanders to this. Silence, in moments like this, is complicity.
If you swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, that oath is being tested right now — not on the streets, but in your conscience.
Our Nation is at a Crossroads
When masked federal agents raid homes, detain nonviolent workers, and terrorize communities under the pretense of “public safety,” they are not protecting anyone. They are eroding the fragile trust that every good police officer depends on to do the job right. We cannot be bystanders to this. Silence, in moments like this, is complicity. If you swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, that oath is being tested right now — not on the streets, but in your conscience.
If we believe in the rule of law, we must also believe in the humanity it’s meant to protect. What we are witnessing today is not law enforcement — it is fear enforcement. And fear has no place in a constitutional democracy.
Every mayor, every police leader, every citizen must decide whether to stand silent or to speak out against the misuse of government power. This is not about politics; it’s about the moral spine of a nation that once prided itself on liberty and justice for all.
We either defend those words now — or we forfeit them for generations.
The time to act — to lead, to speak, to protect the vulnerable — is not someday. It’s today.
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These Are the Data
From data obtained and analyzed by Cato Institute (June 2025):
- Since the start of FY2025 (October 1, 2024) through June 14, 2025: 204,297 individuals booked into ICE detention.
- Of those, 65 % had no criminal convictions at the time of booking.
- Over 93 % had no convictions for violent offenses.
- Among those with convictions, “only about 6.9 % had committed a violent crime.”
- Additional reporting: In June 2025 ICE arrests showed large increases in people with no criminal convictions or charges — one piece cited ~47 % of daily arrests being non‐criminal in early June versus ~21 % in early May.
What They Show
- The usual narrative that ICE is arresting “all violent felons, gang-members, rapists and murderers” is not supported by the data.
- The bulk of recent ICE detainees are either non‐convicted or convicted of nonviolent, lesser offenses (immigration, traffic, vice).
- A very small fraction (under 10 %) of detainees have convictions for violent crimes.
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 