Ohio congressman (Max Miller) tells constituents one thing about ICE, but data tells different story
U.S. Rep. Max Miller is telling constituents that agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement do not "conduct patrols, raids, or sweeps looking for illegal aliens," and that its actions are strictly focused on “those who pose the greatest threat to public safety.” Government data analyzed by major news organizations suggests otherwise. Here ICE agents escort a detained immigrant detained after he exited an immigration courtroom in June in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova) AP
CLEVELAND - U.S. Rep. Max Miller is telling constituents concerned about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities that “ICE does not conduct patrols, raids, or sweeps looking for illegal aliens, but strictly conducts targeted enforcement actions” focused on “those who pose the greatest threat to public safety.”
But recent government data analyzed by major news organizations suggests that characterization doesn’t reflect ICE’s recent operations.
The Bay Village Republican’s office has been sending the response to constituents who contact him about immigration enforcement. An email sent this week signed by Miller, states that ICE’s “limited resources are focused on those who pose the greatest threat to public safety” and that “targets are often those who were arrested on local criminal charges or have a blatant disregard for U.S. immigration laws.”
However, a Washington Post analysis of ICE data through mid-October found that more than 60% of people detained in at-large arrests since June did not have criminal convictions or pending charges. The Post reported that ICE made about 17,500 at-large arrests in September alone, far exceeding any month in data dating back to October 2011.
The newspaper found that ICE is now making more than four times as many at-large arrests per week as it did during Trump’s first term, with such arrests accounting for more than half of ICE’s total monthly arrests in June, September and October.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told the Washington Post that 70% of immigrants arrested by ICE have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. However, the Post’s examination of data from January 20 through October 15 found that about 36% of ICE detainees had criminal convictions and 30% had pending charges.
A separate analysis by The New York Times of the same government data found that in high-profile ICE operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and across Massachusetts, more than half of those arrested had no criminal record. Less than 30% of people arrested in any of these operations had been convicted of a crime, and only a very small share had been convicted of a violent crime, according to The Times analysis.
The Times found that nationwide, the share of people with criminal convictions that ICE has detained fell to 28% in mid-October from 46% at the start of Trump’s second term.
The data analyzed by both news organizations was obtained through public records requests and lawsuits, then made available by the Deportation Data Project, a group of academics and lawyers that collects and releases immigration enforcement data.
Miller’s email also says that “ICE officers are aware of the real and emotional impact of immigration enforcement.”
“Officers do their jobs professionally and treat those they encounter with dignity and respect,” it continues.
(Picture added by Mercohispano.com)
“These officers and their families live, shop, worship, and attend school in the same communities they serve, so the immediate and extreme impact of immigration enforcement is not lost on them. ICE agents deserve the gratitude and support of our nation as they secure the homeland from criminal illegal aliens who terrorize neighborhoods and victimize innocent Americans.”
Immigrant advocates strongly dispute Miller’s characterization. Multiple organizations have filed lawsuits challenging ICE conduct, describing enforcement operations as unlawful, violent, and targeting people based on race and ethnicity rather than criminal history.
The ACLU has filed multiple federal lawsuits in 2025 challenging ICE tactics in Colorado, Illinois, New York, Minnesota, and California. The National Immigration Law Center called current immigration enforcement “a reign of terror.”
When contacted by cleveland.com, Miller spokesman Griffin Moore said the office would not have a comment on the letter.
ICE continues to publicize the criminals it arrests and deports. In a Dec. 20 news release announcing “Operation Buckeye,” ICE highlighted arrests in Ohio of individuals convicted of crimes including attempted abduction, felony drug possession, robbery, and assault. The agency listed 10 individuals arrested in the state with criminal histories.
“Since Jan. 20, we’ve arrested drug traffickers, spousal abusers, thieves and worse,” ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said in the release.
On social media Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, posted: “President Trump and @Sec_Noem are delivering on the American people’s mandate to deport illegal aliens. The American people, the law, and common sense are on our side, and we will not stop until law and order is restored after Biden’s open border chaos flooded our country with the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
