Across the State, data shows that over 297,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and July 31, 2019, of which over 202,000 were classified as illegal aliens by DHS.
Between June 1, 2011 and July 31, 2019, these 202,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 317,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 570 homicide charges; 35,019 assault charges; 6,040 burglary charges; 39,850 drug charges; 457 kidnapping charges; 16,783 theft charges; 25,122 obstructing police charges; 1,761 robbery charges; 3,752 sexual assault charges; 5,019 sexual offense charges; and 3,211 weapon charges.
DPS criminal history records reflecting those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 127,000 convictions, including 262 homicide convictions; 14,534 assault convictions; 3,335 burglary convictions; 18,904 drug convictions; 182 kidnapping convictions; 7,406 theft convictions; 11,855 obstructing police convictions; 1,063 robbery convictions; 1,845 sexual assault convictions; 2,457 sexual offense convictions; and 1,359 weapon convictions.
293rd District Attorney Roberto Serna recently addressed the issue and stated that the 293rd Judicial Court System does not particularly see many state criminal cases involving undocumented immigrants.
“We don't really see a big problem with undocumented immigrants breaking the law and committing state crimes,” said Serna.
“Locally we have few cases of these individuals committing crimes,” added Serna. “A lot of those people come here, are desperate, with children and looking to better their lives. We recognize that there are criminals, and we're prepared to enforce the laws that govern us, against those who break these laws.”
“We won't deny there are bad elements that come to the country but to say that they have caused problems here in Maverick County, is not the case,” concluded Serna.
The Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies in Texas participate in the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). Participation in PEP enables DHS to work with state and local law enforcement to take custody of individuals who pose a danger to public safety before those individuals are released into our communities.