Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Aug 22, 2019 6 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Three things:

1. This release is yet another example of the extreme politicization of agencies which have traditionally been scrupulously non-political.

2. 85% of non-citizen arrests were for immigration crimes.

3. The underlying report is professional and not inflammatory.
Today's BJS report is definitely interesting. Despite the inflammatory headline from the press release, the data actually shows that when you exclude immigration arrests, there are actually FEWER arrests of non-citizens than in previous years.

Here's data from Table 2:
Of course, the data looks VERY different when you start counting immigration-related crimes like improper entry or illegal reentry. Under the Trump administration, prosecutions for these crimes have surged—making federal arrest numbers go way up.

Here's data from Table 2 again.
The report also shows that certain kinds of federal arrests are weighted towards U.S. citizens, while others are weighted towards non-citizens.

Federal immigration-related arrests? Overwhelmingly non-citizens.
Federal weapons arrests? Overwhelmingly U.S. citizens.
In many ways this report seem to fit squarely with what people like @AlexNowrasteh have been saying for years; when you exclude crimes which are incidental to immigration and the border, non-citizens already inside the U.S. are no more likely to commit crimes than citizens.
@AlexNowrasteh Another interesting tidbit? Table 11 breaks out immigration-related arrests across the 9 SW Border Sectors, and matches it with CBP data—showing that prosecutions bear little relationship to apprehensions.

Apprehensions going up =/= prosecutions going up, and vice versa.

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More from @ReichlinMelnick

Jun 1
What infuriates me so much about this operation is that it is literally punishing people for following the rules and showing up to their court hearings. It is so toxic to the basic concept of following the rules. ICE itself is effectively encouraging people to violate the law.
Exactly. People can understand intuitively why this is wrong.

It also literally erases a fair day in court. That’s the entire point of the operation.
First, that’s not what’s happening here, people are having their cases dismissed over their objections.

And second, yes, that’s been the standard for generations where people do not waive appeal. There is by law a 30 day period to appeal before any removal order becomes final.
Read 6 tweets
May 22
🚨ICE arrests continued today at immigration courts nationwide. People showing up for court are being handcuffed in the hallways by ICE officers with lists of names, after ICE prosecutors move to dismiss the case.

Here's what those officers looked in Seattle as they, per @KUOW. Image
Stories are coming in from around the country about these arrests, which have occurred in LA, Miami, SF, Phoenix, Seattle, NYC, Chicago, and other places with immigration courts.

The goal of the Trump admin's efforts are to erase the right to see a judge.
kuow.org/stories/ice-ag…
This new effort by the Trump admin is aimed primarily at people with NO CRIMINAL RECORD. Many entered legally at a port of entry.

These people are seen as low hanging fruit for an admin wanting to juice deportation numbers by skipping the formal court process entirely. Image
Read 10 tweets
May 21
NEW: ICE confirms that it is deporting someone to South Sudan, putting a link to an upcoming press conference on YouTube.

A hearing in Massachusetts begins in an hour. The judge ordered ICE not to transfer custody of a Vietnamese man believed to be on that flight to South Sudan. Image
The link is here. Chief DHS propagandist Tricia McLaughlin is talking now, beginning by emphasizing the serious criminal conduct of the people it has reportedly sent to South Sudan (murder and rape). She says South Sudan agreed to take them. youtube.com/live/p2U8Eh1VF…
McLaughlin called this a "military operation" (bull, it's a private jet contracted by ICE) and calls the men "uniquely violent monsters" and shows 8 pictures. She attacks Judge Murphy, calling him an "activist judge."

Every time she refers to the men, she calls them "monsters."
Read 21 tweets
May 21
🚨UPDATE: In a late-night court hearing, the Trump admin says that it deported the Burmese man to Burma, but is REFUSING to say where they deported the Vietnamese man, claiming it’s classified!

The judge ordered ICE to tell everyone involved they may face criminal contempt. Image
Image
The @nytimes has more details, as they apparently got a reporter in the hearing.

There is reportedly another hearing scheduled for tomorrow morning at 11:00 as a continuation. It seems unlikely Judge Murphy will rule tonight.

nytimes.com/2025/05/20/us/…
@nytimes Here is the section of the article noting the moment when Judge Murphy ordered the DOJ lawyer at the hearing to notify everyone involved, “from the pilot of the plane to officials at the Department of Homeland Security,” that they might face charges of criminal contempt of court. Image
Read 5 tweets
May 20
🚨According to litigators, ICE just put a dozen men on a flight to SOUTH SUDAN, a country which is on the brink of civil war, in direct defiance of a court order requiring ICE to give people an opportunity to raise objections before being sent to a country not their own. Image
Litigators filed an emergency request for a restraining order to halt the flight from taking off or, if it's already in the air, to turn it around.

Citing the Supreme Court's decision on the Alien Enemies Act, they emphasize that people on the flight were denied due process. Image
The men reportedly being sent to South Sudan include at least two of the men the administration previously tried to send to Libya.

If it's the same dozen men, it includes people from Mexico, Bolivia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and other countries.
Read 12 tweets
May 18
The Director of the FBI is openly lying to the American public about Canada being a major source of fentanyl.

In the first three months of 2025, a grand total of 1.35 lbs of fentanyl was seized by border officials at our border with Canada — 0.06% of total seizures.
In the last 39 months, Customs and Border Protection seized 71,313 pounds of fentanyl. Of that amount:

- 69,373 lbs were seized near the Mexican border.
- 1,864 lbs were seized in an interior area (at a port or airport).
- 85 lbs were seized near the Canadian border.
Last 43 months, sorry, not 36 months. That data goes from October 2021 through April 2025. It is available here (warning that the numbers don’t display properly on some mobile browsers, although the chart works).

cbp.gov/newsroom/stats…
Read 4 tweets

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