Only 14 Percent of Immigrants Targeted By Trump's Deportation Efforts Are Accused of Violent Crimes: Report

Most of the nearly 400,000 immigrants detained during the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts were unrelated to violent crimes, according to a new report.

According to documents obtained by CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security's own data found that only 14 percent of those arrested had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses.

The largest portion of those arrested, 39.8 percent, were only accused of immigration violations such as overstaying a VISA or being in the country illegally. Only about two percent of those arrested were the murderers and rapists often referenced by the administration.

Overall, the network reported that the DHS figures show that 60 percent of those arrested had some sort of criminal charge or conviction, but that the vast majority of those were for non-violent offenses.

The report prompted CBS News chief Bari Weiss to pose the question on X, "Is Trump really deporting the worst of the worst? "

DHS pushed back on the report, with Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin responding to Weiss on X that non-violent offenses include many crimes such as "Drug trafficking, Distribution of child pornography, burglary, fraud, DUI, embezzlement, solicitation of a minor, (and) human smuggling."

McLaughlin stated that 70 percent of those arrested had pending or prior criminal convictions.

The CBS report comes after the network faced intense scrutiny for temporarily shelving a 60 Minutes report on the conditions immigration detainees face in a Venezuelan prison used by the administration.

That report originally was set to air in December, but was held until mid-January following concerns raised by Weiss, the New York Times reported. After holding the segment, CBS, at the behest of Weiss, made changes to the segment, including adding more comments from the Trump administration to the beginning and end of the report, the New York Times reported.

The decision to hold the story and make changes drew criticism, but Weiss has said the changes were needed to add context and to ensure the story was balanced, the Times reported.

Originally published on IBTimes