By Naveen Athrappully
Contributing Writer
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested around 7,000 gang members during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a Jan. 20 statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
These criminals were convicted of a range of crimes, including murder, drug trafficking, human trafficking and carjacking, according to the department.
“When we say we are targeting the worst of the worst, this is exactly what we mean,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, adding that many of them should never have been in the country.
“These vicious criminals murdered, assaulted, robbed and terrorized innocent Americans for sport. But under President Trump’s and Secretary (Kristi) Noem’s leadership, ICE is turbocharged to arrest even more gang members and make America safe again,” she said.
The Department of Justice defines gangs as an association of three or more individuals who band together under a group identity and engage in criminal activities, including violence and intimidation, to further their association’s reputation or economic resources.
Based on data from an FBI special report published in September 2025, there were 69,273 incidents involving gang activity during the 2021-2024 period. More than half, 53.7%, of gang-related incidents involved the offenses of murder, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery.
During this period, there were nearly 100,000 victims involved in about 70,000 gang-related incidents. Individuals aged 13 to 16 years were the most-reported victim age group, with more than 67% of victims reporting they knew the offenders in some manner.
During his first term, Trump issued an executive order to strengthen federal law enforcement against transnational criminal organizations.
In February 2017, Trump ordered federal law enforcement agencies to give high priority and devote sufficient resources to efforts to identify, interdict, disrupt, and dismantle transnational criminal organizations and subsidiary organizations.
During his second term, Trump designated cartels and other organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and specially designated global terrorists.
Through an executive order issued on his first day in office, Trump declared a national emergency against cartel organizations such as Tren de Aragua and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
“It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States,” said the order.
Illegal Immigrant Crime
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem lauded the administration’s first-year law enforcement efforts in a Jan. 20 post on X.
“In President Trump’s first year back in office, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 deportations,” said Noem.
“In the last year, fentanyl trafficking at the southern border has also been cut by more than half compared to the same period in 2024,” she said. “The U.S. Coast Guard alone seized enough cocaine to kill more than 177 million Americans.”
There has been persistent opposition to the administration’s stringent stance on crime in some quarters.
On Jan. 20, a few hundred protestors in Washington demonstrated against ICE law enforcement across the country, led by the Marxist group, the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Earlier, in Minneapolis, following the fatal shooting of a protestor, Renee Good, tens of thousands of individuals demonstrated against ICE actions in the region.
A Jan. 20 statement issued by the DHS said that 70% of all individuals arrested by ICE are convicted criminals or have criminal charges. During 2025, the agency arrested 43,305 potential national security risks. Regarding known or suspected terrorists, 1,416 were arrested, with 1,392 removed from the country.
According to a Jan. 19 post by FBI Director Kash Patel, there has been a 20% drop in the murder rate nationwide. Around 1,800 gangs and criminal enterprises operating in the country have been disrupted.
Multiple law enforcement initiatives resulted in 56,000 arrests and more than 4,000 firearms being seized as the FBI marked a historic 2025, Patel said.
In other posts last year, Patel announced the capture of high-ranking MS-13 members Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales in March, and Joel Vargas-Escobar in April.
Out of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, the agency has managed to capture four in 2025, and one in 2026. During the four years of the prior administration, four fugitives were captured in total.
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