According to both President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the agency has been working to pick up and detain the “worst of the worst” criminals in America to make the country safe again. However, ICE’s list of individuals detained, available on the DHS website, shows that most of them have only minor traffic offenses, something that can hardly be considered the “worst of the worst.”
As noted in a Daily Beast review, more than two dozen of the people listed on the DHS site under the “worst criminal aliens arrested” banner have traffic offenses as their only cited crimes. Moreover, the nature of those offenses has not been clarified, so it’s unclear whether those individuals committed serious traffic violations such as drunk driving, hit-and-runs, driving under the influence of drugs, or carjackings.
The site lists detainees from every state. It began with 10,000 names, and DHS has said that the list will be regularly updated. Details about the individuals arrested include their names, locations where they were picked up, and their alleged crimes. While there are detainees from every state, Texas tops the list with 2,122 people detained there. California is second, with 1,524 detained.
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It’s worth noting that Noem herself has an abysmal history of traffic violations. During her successful 2010 campaign, the Rapid City Journal reported that Noem had 20 speeding tickets to her name dating back to 1989. Her other traffic violations included improper license plates and failing to stop at a designated intersection.
Noem previously said she was not very proud of her driving history and was working on being a better driver. However, despite these repeated violations, she never faced any serious consequences. And although she initially failed to pay the fines after bench warrants were issued, she later resolved them without much difficulty. She never lost her driver’s license either, yet she is now detaining people over similar violations and labeling them as the “worst of the worst” criminals.
According to The Daily Beast, more than 30 people on the DHS website had only traffic violations. Among them, “28 were men from Latin America, including 13 from Mexico, five from El Salvador, and four from Guatemala.” In addition to traffic offenses, the site also lists people detained for crimes such as marijuana possession, which is legal in many American states. The site went online on Monday and was described as being “all about transparency and showing results.” Mugshots of individuals convicted of more serious violent crimes are also included.
DICTIONARY OF DEPRAVITY.
DHS has launched https://t.co/2YzVImX37Y for Americans to see the criminal illegal aliens that we are arresting, what crimes they committed, and what communities we removed them from.
Find the WORST OF THE WORST arrested: https://t.co/2YzVImX37Y pic.twitter.com/7V8cza65oR
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 9, 2025
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement, saying, “As the media whitewashes the facts, day in and day out, our brave men and women of ICE risk their lives for the American people… With this transparent tool, they can see for themselves what public safety threats were lurking in their neighborhoods.”
Trump and Noem have also maintained that ICE would be targeting the most dangerous offenders so that everyday Americans can be safe. However, with traffic violations making up a significant portion of those being detained, it does not appear that ICE is targeting only serious criminals. Instead, the agency seems to be focusing broadly on immigrants, regardless of immigration status.
