U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a DHS law‑enforcement agency that enforces federal immigration and certain criminal laws. Its two main operational components are Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which arrests, detains and removes noncitizens, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which investigates transnational crime. Federal statute (8 U.S.C. §1357 and implementing regulations) and delegated authorities (e.g., 287(g) agreements) give ICE officers power to question, arrest without a warrant in specified circumstances, issue detainers, detain noncitizens in ICE custody, and coordinate removals; criminal arrests can also arise from separate federal or state criminal authority.
"Criminal illegal alien" is not a single statutory label but a term used by DHS/ICE to describe noncitizens who have criminal convictions or are charged with crimes and who are also removable under immigration law. ICE programs (e.g., the Criminal Alien Program) categorize "criminal aliens" to prioritize enforcement; whether someone is "illegal" refers to immigration status (e.g., unlawfully present or removable) while "criminal" refers to criminal conviction/charges.
WOW.DHS.gov ("Worst of the Worst") is a DHS public portal that highlights individuals DHS labels as "public‑safety threats" arrested by CBP/ICE; it publishes names, alleged crimes/convictions, locations and press‑release items and links to related DHS/ICE announcements, but it is an agency‑curated list rather than a court record or independent database.
Tricia (Patricia) McLaughlin is the DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, the principal advisor to the Secretary on external and internal communications; in that role she issues DHS press statements and represents DHS messaging.
The press release does not specify the baseline or exact time period for the "more than 1,300%" (assaults) and "8,000%" (death threats) figures and does not cite the underlying dataset or analyst; the release attributes the claims to DHS/ICE messaging but provides no methodological detail, so the period and compiler are not publicly specified in that statement.
After ICE arrests of convicted noncitizens, typical next steps can include: (1) criminal prosecution or continuation of an existing criminal case (handled by federal/state prosecutors); (2) immigration processing by ICE/ERO (chargeable as removable under the INA), possible detention in ICE custody, and issuance of removal proceedings before an immigration court (EOIR); and (3) if ordered removed or if removal is administratively approved, deportation coordinated by ICE's Removal Management and, where applicable, diplomatic coordination with foreign governments. Decisions about criminal prosecution are made by prosecutors (federal/state), custody and removal decisions by ICE/ERO, and final removal orders by immigration judges (EOIR) or through administrative processes.