DHS/ICE counts people as “gang members” based on agency criteria drawn from law enforcement records and intelligence — not a single legal statute. ICE’s public Worst of the Worst pages and press releases identify gang affiliation using ICE/ERO investigative determinations (criminal convictions, law‑enforcement gang databases, court records, admissions, indicia such as tattoos/communications and investigative reporting). DHS/ICE does not publish a single statutory definition in the release; instead it relies on agency case records and investigative criteria used by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations and law‑enforcement partners.
The 7,000 figure in the DHS press release is presented as arrests by ICE ("ICE arrested 7,000 gang members"); the release does not state that all arrests led to convictions. The DHS Worst of the Worst pages and related ICE releases separately report arrests and removals and list conviction histories when applicable, but the 7,000 number as stated refers to arrests, not exclusively convictions or final removals.
ICE’s authority to arrest and remove noncitizens for criminal conduct is grounded in federal immigration law (notably the Immigration and Nationality Act, e.g., INA §§ 237/8 U.S.C. § 1227 for removability based on criminal convictions or certain conduct) and in authorities that permit arrest of aliens for enforcement (8 U.S.C. § 1357 on arrest and detention). ICE enforces immigration laws through civil removal proceedings and can coordinate criminal prosecutions with DOJ when statutes are violated.
"Secretary Noem" refers to Kristi Noem, who was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security in January 2025. As DHS Secretary she is the department’s cabinet head responsible for overall leadership and policy direction of DHS components (including ICE and CBP); operational enforcement is carried out by component agencies under DHS leadership.
The "Worst of the Worst" is a DHS public campaign and searchable website (wow.dhs.gov) that highlights selected criminal noncitizens arrested by ICE. DHS says it aggregates arrests and conviction information from ICE records across operations; selection appears to be administrative (cases DHS deems egregious or relevant for public reporting) rather than a statutorily defined program with published independent selection rules in the press releases.
DHS/ICE claims someone was "released by" a prior administration by citing case history (immigration court decisions, prior removals, parole/stays, or prior prosecutorial/immigration outcomes) recorded in agency files. The press release does not supply the underlying records; to verify such claims you must consult ICE/DHS case records, immigration court dockets (EOIR), or public court records and removal/encounter data via FOIA or official case databases.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and ICE special units carry out the arrests listed on the DHS pages; DHS press releases and the WOW site indicate operations nationwide (searchable by state/city on wow.dhs.gov). The release names arrests in many U.S. locations (examples in the release and WOW listings include Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Texas, California and others), but it does not give a single comprehensive list of locations in the 7,000 total — the WOW site provides searchable locality information for individual cases.