Department of Justice Releases New Statistics On Illegal Alien Population in U.S. Prisons

In January President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring the Department of Justice and Homeland Security produce regular, quarterly statistics about crime and illegal aliens in the United States. 

(a) the immigration status of all aliens incarcerated under the supervision of the Bureau of Prisons; (b) the immigration status of all aliens incarcerated as federal pretrial detainees; and (c) the immigration status of all convicted aliens in state prisons and local detention centers throughout the United States.

Today DOJ is out with its first report, detailing the number of illegal aliens incarcerated in U.S. prisons across the country. Here are the numbers: 

There are 45,493 foreign-born inmates currently in BOP custody, of which 3,939 are U.S. citizens (either naturalized or derivative).  Of the remaining 41,554 foreign-born inmates (aliens):

o Approximately 22,541 (54.2 percent) are aliens for which final immigration orders have been issued for their removal;

o Approximately 13,886 (33.4 percent) are aliens who are under ICE investigation for possible removal;

o Approximately 5,101 (12.3 percent) are aliens still pending adjudication (in other words, ICE has charged these aliens as removal cases, but a final disposition has not yet been reached); and

o Approximately 26 (0.1 percent) are aliens who have been granted relief on the basis of asylum claims.

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These numbers only account for federal prisons. Currently DOJ and DHS do not have system in place to measure illegal aliens incarcerated in state prisons or local jails, but plan to build one this year through the Office of Justice Programs.

According to the Federal Register, the incarceration of one federal prisoner costs taxpayers on average $30,619.85 per year.

“Illegal aliens who commit additional crimes in the United States are a threat to public safety and a burden on our criminal justice system,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said about the report.  “This is why we must secure our borders through a wall and effective law enforcement, and we must strengthen cooperation between federal, state and local governments as we strive to fulfill our sacred duty of protecting and serving the American people.”