ICE Arrests Worst of Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Including Pedophiles, Kidnappers, and Drug Traffickers

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law-enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its mission is to protect the United States through criminal investigations and enforcement of immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety. ICE’s work is mainly carried out by: (1) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which identifies, arrests, detains, and removes noncitizens who violate U.S. immigration laws, especially those considered threats to public safety or national security; and (2) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which investigates transnational crime such as drug trafficking, human smuggling, gang activity, money laundering, cybercrime, and other cross‑border offenses affecting the U.S. immigration, trade, travel, and financial systems.

“Worst of the worst” is not a formal legal category; it is a DHS/ICE communications label used in the “Worst of the Worst” (WOW) campaign and database. ICE’s public description is that the people featured there are noncitizens who have been convicted of or accused of “heinous” or very serious crimes that put the public at risk. The WOW site and related DHS material highlight individuals with criminal histories including homicide, rape, child sexual abuse, aggravated assault, drug trafficking, robbery, and similar serious or repeat offenses. DHS and ICE have not published a precise numerical or statutory threshold for who qualifies, so the phrase functions as a rhetorical designation for noncitizens they wish to present as especially dangerous, rather than as a defined legal status that changes their rights or the type of proceedings they face.

In this press release, the five individuals were already convicted in state or federal courts of crimes such as unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, kidnapping, aggravated assault, importation of fentanyl, and burglary. ICE’s role is now immigration enforcement, not retrying those offenses. After ICE arrests noncitizens with criminal convictions, the typical legal sequence is:

1. Immigration charges and custody: ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) identifies the person as “removable,” arrests them on civil immigration grounds, and decides whether to detain them in an ICE facility or release them under supervision or bond. Serious criminal convictions often lead to mandatory or strongly favored detention while the case proceeds.
2. Removal proceedings: If there is no existing final removal order, ICE serves a charging document (a Notice to Appear) and the person goes before an immigration judge (in the Department of Justice’s immigration courts). The judge decides whether the person is removable and whether they qualify for any relief (for example, asylum or certain waivers).
3. Deportation (removal): If a removal order becomes final and there are no successful appeals or legal stays, ERO arranges the person’s physical removal (deportation) to their country of nationality (e.g., Mexico, Panama, Venezuela). If there was already a prior removal order, ICE can in some cases “reinstate” that order and remove the person more quickly.
4. Additional criminal charges: Separately from the crimes listed in the press release, some individuals may also be referred for federal prosecution for immigration crimes such as illegal reentry after removal. Those criminal cases, if brought, are handled in federal court before or alongside the civil removal process.

The exact path for each named person is not detailed in the press release, but the general pattern is arrest by ICE, possible immigration detention, immigration-court or administrative proceedings, and then removal if a final order is in place.

“Importation of fentanyl” is a federal drug-trafficking offense that applies when someone knowingly brings fentanyl, or a mixture containing fentanyl, into the United States from another country without legal authorization. The core prohibition is in 21 U.S.C. § 952 (importation of controlled substances); penalties are set in 21 U.S.C. § 960.

Under 21 U.S.C. § 960, fentanyl offenses carry very severe penalties that depend mainly on the quantity and circumstances:

• For smaller amounts below the statutory thresholds, the maximum sentence can be up to 20 years in federal prison, plus fines and supervised release.
• For 40 grams or more of a mixture containing fentanyl (or certain amounts of fentanyl analogues), there is typically a mandatory minimum of 5 years and up to 40 years in prison.
• For 400 grams or more of a mixture containing fentanyl (or higher analogue quantities), there is typically a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison.
• If death or serious bodily injury results from the drug use, or if the defendant has certain prior drug felonies, mandatory minimums and maximums can increase further.

Judges also consider the federal Sentencing Guidelines, criminal history, and any cooperation with authorities when deciding the actual sentence in an individual case.

Tricia McLaughlin is the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to her official DHS biography, she oversees DHS’s public outreach, including media, digital, strategic, and crisis communications, and serves as the principal advisor to Secretary Kristi Noem on all external and internal communications. This means she directs how DHS and its components—including ICE—communicate their work to the public, Congress, and the media.

In practice, she is a senior political and communications official, not a line law‑enforcement commander. She does not run day‑to‑day ICE operations or decide individual arrests, but she shapes the messaging around operations like the “Worst of the Worst” campaign and is frequently quoted in ICE‑related press releases, including the one about these arrests.

ICE coordinates extensively with local and state law-enforcement agencies when arresting noncitizens with criminal records, such as those described in the article. Key mechanisms include:

• Information and jail-based coordination: ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) works with federal, state, and local prisons and jails to identify foreign‑born people in custody using biometric and biographic data. Local agencies share booking information and fingerprints; ICE then decides whether to pursue immigration enforcement and may arrange to take custody when the person is released from local criminal custody.
• Immigration detainers and transfers: When ICE identifies someone in local custody it wants to arrest for immigration violations, it can issue an immigration detainer requesting the jail to notify ICE of release and, in many jurisdictions, to hold the person briefly so ICE can assume custody. (The specific use of detainers in these five cases is not detailed in the press release.)
• 287(g) partnerships: Under the 287(g) program, ICE formally partners with selected state and local agencies. ICE trains and certifies local officers so they can identify and process “removable aliens with pending or active criminal charges,” serve and execute certain ICE warrants in their jails, and, in the Task Force Model, exercise limited immigration authority during routine policing and on ICE-led task forces. These arrangements allow closer, ongoing coordination and joint operations between ICE and local police or sheriffs.

Which mix of these tools was used in Los Angeles, Mecklenburg County, Salt Lake City, Arizona, or Cameron County is not specified in the article, but the overall pattern is that ICE relies on local custody data, jail cooperation, and formal programs like 287(g) to locate and arrest the people it then features as “worst of the worst.”

DHS and ICE typically release only limited operational detail about arrests like those in this press release. Public statements usually include:

• The person’s name, nationality, type of immigration status, and the crimes for which they were convicted or charged.
• The city or county and state associated with the arrest or conviction (for example, Los Angeles, Mecklenburg County, Salt Lake City, or Cameron County).
• Sometimes the date of the ICE arrest or a general time reference (such as “yesterday’s arrests” or a specific month).

They generally do not disclose sensitive details such as exact home or workplace addresses, precise times, surveillance methods, undercover techniques, or the full operational planning. For example, the Dec. 16, 2025 DHS press release about these five individuals lists their names, prior convictions, and the jurisdictions involved but does not say exactly where agents encountered each person or what tactics were used. Similarly, ICE’s public “Worst of the Worst” pages typically note convictions, jurisdictions, and that ICE arrested the person (sometimes with an arrest date), but omit tactical specifics. This pattern reflects standard law-enforcement practice of balancing public information with officer safety, ongoing investigations, and privacy concerns.