New Year, Same Mission: ICE Arrests More Worst of Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Including Murderers, Gang Members, and Rapists

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law‑enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security. It mainly:

• Enforces immigration law inside the U.S. (identifying, arresting, detaining, and deporting non‑citizens who are removable under immigration law, especially those seen as threats to public safety or national security).
• Investigates cross‑border crime (such as human smuggling and trafficking, drug and weapons smuggling, money laundering, cybercrime, and other offenses that exploit customs and immigration laws). These missions are carried out mostly through two operational branches: Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) for immigration enforcement, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for criminal investigations.

DHS/ICE uses “worst of the worst” as a political and communications label, not a formally defined legal category. The DHS “Arrested: Worst of the Worst” and ICE “Worst of the Worst” pages describe it as referring to non‑citizens arrested by ICE who have been convicted of or charged with serious crimes (such as homicide, sexual abuse, kidnapping, or serious violent or weapons offenses). However, there is no publicly available regulation or statutory definition that sets fixed, formal criteria for who qualifies; DHS appears to select people for this label based on the seriousness of their alleged or proven criminal conduct.

In the Jan. 5, 2026 DHS press release, the “120% increase in manpower” refers to ICE’s reported expansion in officers and agents compared with the prior period, which the release links to “more than 12,000 new officers and agents.” A contemporaneous news report cites ICE officials saying the hiring surge increased the number of officers and agents from about 10,000 to roughly 22,000 “in less than a year,” which would be a bit more than double (around a 120% increase). DHS has not, in public budget or staffing documents, broken down this specific claim in more technical detail or tied it to a precise start date, so the exact baseline and measurement period are not fully documented in official sources.

After ICE arrests someone, several steps usually follow, often in parallel:

1. Booking and screening: ICE records the person’s identity, fingerprints, and immigration history and checks criminal databases.
2. Criminal process (if applicable): If there are pending criminal charges or new federal crimes (for example, illegal re‑entry, smuggling, or other offenses), prosecutors may file charges. In that case, the person can be transferred to criminal custody, tried, and possibly imprisoned before immigration removal.
3. Immigration detention and court: ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations typically holds the person in an immigration detention facility or, in some cases, releases them on bond or other conditions. The Department of Justice’s immigration courts (EOIR) then decide whether the person should be ordered removed (deported), can seek relief (such as asylum), or may remain in the U.S.
4. Removal (deportation): If there is a final removal order and no remaining legal barriers, ICE arranges travel documents and physically removes the person from the U.S. to the country of removal. The exact path depends on factors like criminal charges, prior removal orders, and eligibility for relief.

Tricia McLaughlin is the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to DHS, she oversees DHS’s public outreach, including media, digital, strategic, and crisis communications, and serves as the principal advisor to Secretary Kristi Noem on external and internal communications. In the Jan. 5, 2026 ICE arrests press release, she is quoted in this communications role, speaking on behalf of the department about immigration enforcement.

ICE determines or verifies nationality and country of origin using several methods:

• Documents: Reviewing passports, national ID cards, birth certificates, visas, or other government‑issued documents.
• Biometrics and databases: Taking fingerprints and other biometrics and checking them against DHS and other databases managed by the Office of Biometric Identity Management (such as IDENT/HART) to match existing immigration or travel records.
• Information‑sharing programs: Using arrangements like the Electronic Travel Document (eTD) system and the Electronic Nationality Verification (ENV) program, which allow DHS to electronically confirm a person’s nationality with certain foreign governments when documents are missing or unclear.
• Interviews and other evidence: Questioning the individual and reviewing any additional records or prior immigration files. These methods are combined; biometrics and database checks are used to corroborate, not usually to replace, documentary and other evidence.

The wow.dhs.gov page (“Arrested: Worst of the Worst”) is a DHS site that lists non‑citizens labeled by DHS as “worst of the worst” criminal aliens arrested by ICE. For each person, it typically shows:

• Name
• Country of origin
• Location of arrest (U.S. city/state)
• The crimes they were convicted of or arrested for The page has a search and filter interface (for example, by country of origin and U.S. state) and paginated results numbered into the thousands. It is updated on an ongoing basis as new arrests are added; the listing shows multiple pages and recent entries reflecting ongoing ICE operations, but DHS does not publish a specific schedule (such as daily or weekly) for these updates.