ICE Ends 2025 With More Arrests of Worst of Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Including Child Rapists, Violent Abusers, and Drug Traffickers

CBP Home is a Department of Homeland Security / Customs and Border Protection smartphone app that lets people who are in the U.S. without permission sign up online to leave the country under a DHS-run “self-removal” program. For the 2025 year‑end offer, DHS says that:

• Undocumented migrants who register through the CBP Home app to self‑deport by Dec. 31, 2025, are promised a $3,000 cash stipend plus a free, DHS‑paid one‑way flight home.
• The DHS press release describes the process as: download the CBP Home app, enter your personal information, and DHS “will take care of the rest,” including arranging and paying for travel back home; app users also qualify for forgiveness of civil fines or penalties for failing to depart when required.
• Reporting on the program adds that applicants use the app to register, clear a criminal‑history check, schedule their departure before Dec. 31, and then receive the $3,000 payment electronically after DHS confirms they boarded their outbound flight. This program is voluntary; it is marketed as an alternative to being arrested and removed by ICE.

“Self‑deport” is not a formal legal status; it is a descriptive term. ICE defines self‑deportation as simply leaving the U.S. on your own initiative when you are in the country illegally, without waiting for ICE to arrest, detain, and physically remove you. You may or may not notify immigration authorities, but you still trigger the normal immigration‑law penalties for unlawful presence (such as 3‑ or 10‑year bars on coming back) if those apply.

By contrast:

• Formal removal (deportation) is a legal process. DHS issues a Notice to Appear, an immigration judge (or an expedited process at the border) issues a removal order, and ICE then physically removes the person. A formal removal order usually carries stronger legal consequences for reentry than simply leaving on your own, and illegal reentry after removal is a federal crime.
• Voluntary departure is a specific legal remedy in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA § 240B). DHS or an immigration judge can grant it instead of a removal order. The person agrees to leave by a set deadline and at their own expense, meets good‑moral‑character and other eligibility rules, and if they comply, they do not receive a formal removal order on their record. If they fail to depart on time, the order converts to removal and additional penalties can apply.

So, “self‑deporting” is an informal way of saying someone left on their own; voluntary departure is a formal, granted status; and removal is a compulsory deportation ordered and carried out by the government.

“Worst of the Worst” is a DHS/ICE communications label, not a formal legal category, used for noncitizens whom the agencies want to highlight as especially serious offenders.

Available DHS and ICE materials show that people placed in this category generally meet these informal criteria:

• They are noncitizens arrested by ICE or other DHS components and are in DHS custody or have been removed.
• They have been convicted of or charged with serious or “heinous” offenses such as homicide, rape or sexual assault (often of children), child pornography, domestic violence, gang‑related violence, major drug trafficking, human trafficking or alien smuggling, or terrorism‑related conduct.
• DHS repeatedly frames them as posing a high risk to public safety or national security, describing them as “murderers, rapists, gang members, drug traffickers, pedophiles, and terrorists,” and saying the webpage aggregates information on criminal illegal aliens with histories including homicide, assault, rape, drug trafficking, child molestation, cruelty toward a child, and armed robbery.

ICE’s own “Worst of the Worst” page explains that each profiled person is an illegal alien “convicted or accused of heinous crimes that put the American public at risk.” DHS has not published a formal scoring system beyond this emphasis on the severity and nature of the criminal conduct.

For people like those named in the article—noncitizens with prior criminal convictions who are then arrested by ICE—the typical legal sequence is:

1. ICE arrest and processing

   • ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) takes the person into custody, usually after the person has been convicted in state or federal court, or is released from a local jail or prison.
   • ICE collects biographical and biometric data and checks immigration and criminal records.

2. Detention decision and Notice to Appear (NTA)

   • ICE decides whether to detain the person in an immigration detention facility or release them (on bond, supervision, or parole). Many with serious criminal convictions are subject to mandatory detention and cannot be released on bond.
   • If DHS pursues immigration charges, it serves a Notice to Appear, which formally starts civil removal (deportation) proceedings in immigration court.

3. Immigration court proceedings

   • The person appears before an immigration judge (often by video) for master‑calendar and, later, merits hearings.
   • They can hire a lawyer (at their own expense) and may apply for relief such as asylum, protection under the Convention Against Torture, cancellation of removal, or (in some cases) voluntary departure.
   • If no relief is granted, the judge issues a removal order.

4. Removal or other outcomes

   • With a final removal order, ICE arranges travel and physically removes the person to their country of nationality.
   • If there are new or pending criminal charges (for example, for illegal reentry or federal crimes like alien smuggling), the person may first be transferred to the U.S. Marshals Service or state authorities for criminal prosecution or to complete a criminal sentence, and then returned to ICE for removal.

This is the standard process described by legal‑aid groups and ICE itself for what happens after an immigration arrest.

In U.S. law, “alien smuggling” is generally prosecuted under 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (bringing in and harboring certain aliens). A conviction in the Southern District of Texas (a major border district) typically involves conduct such as:

• Bringing people without authorization across the U.S. border;
• Transporting or moving them within the U.S. knowing (or recklessly disregarding) that they are here unlawfully;
• Concealing, harboring, or shielding them from detection; or
• Conspiring or attempting to do any of the above, usually for financial gain or as part of a smuggling network.

Key penalties under 8 U.S.C. § 1324 include (per count):

• Up to 5 years in prison for basic smuggling, transporting, or harboring offenses.
• Up to 10 years if done for commercial advantage or private financial gain.
• Up to 20 years if the offense causes serious bodily injury or places a person’s life in jeopardy.
• Up to life imprisonment or the death penalty if any person dies as a result.
  Most cases also carry fines and, for noncitizens, make the person removable from the United States.

Sentencing data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission show that most alien‑smuggling cases involve transporting or harboring small numbers of people, and that actual sentences are often well below the statutory maximums, but are still felonies that can mean years of imprisonment.

The DHS press release about these specific ICE arrests does not state whether they were coordinated with local law enforcement in Scott County (KY), Floyd (GA), Las Vegas (NV), Collin County (TX), or the Southern District of Texas, and it mentions no incidents involving harm to civilians. A search of publicly available news and government sources likewise does not reveal detailed operational reports on these particular arrests.

Based on currently available information, it is not possible to say from public records exactly how coordination worked in these cases or whether any bystanders were harmed during the arrests.