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DHS said in its letter that 241 — or 92% — of the 261 DACA enrollees taken into ICE custody had "criminal histories" outside of civil immigration violations. DHS typically considers pending criminal charges and convictions as criminal histories. The letter, signed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, did not specify the severity of the alleged criminal records.

CBS News reached out to representatives for DHS, including to request more details on the nature of the charges or convictions of the DACA recipients identified as having criminal histories.

In a statement in response to the DHS letter, Durbin and fellow Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla and Mark Kelly called the arrests of DACA recipients "deeply troubling," saying the detentions "disrupt families, harm communities, and inflict unnecessary social, emotional, and economic costs."

The Democratic senators also questioned the criminal figures provided by DHS, noting they're demanding more details.

"Secretary Noem's response to our letter claims that 241 of the 261 DACA recipients arrested had 'criminal histories,' without providing any further details," they said. "DACA recipients go through strict background checks every time they renew this protection, and the Trump Administration has not hesitated to arrest immigrants with no serious criminal convictions and falsely label them the 'worst of the worst.'"

The arrests and deportations of DACA recipients represent a significant increase from by advocates about how many "Dreamers" had been arrested under Mr. Trump's deportation campaign. But they also represent a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants with active DACA status.

As of the end of June 2025, roughly 516,000 Dreamers were enrolled in DACA, with the majority living in states like California, Texas, Illinois, Florida and New York, according to .

DACA has been one of rare immigration programs created under a Democratic president that the second Trump administration has not yet moved to end, though the policy remains in legal peril.

Since taking office for a second time, Mr. Trump has moved swiftly to undo numerous Obama and Biden-era immigration policies, including by revoking the Temporary Protected Status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from crisis-stricken nations. But Trump administration officials, including USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, have declined to say publicly what they intend to do with DACA.

The first Trump administration tried to terminate DACA, arguing it was illegal. But the Supreme Court blocked that effort on technical grounds in 2020, allowing the policy to survive, though in a zombie-like form.

In recent years, federal courts in Texas and Louisiana have declared DACA — and the Biden administration's efforts to codify the policy — illegal. But they have allowed current recipients to continue renewing their two-year work permits and deportation deferrals.

The Republican-led states challenging DACA's legality, however, asked a federal judge in Texas last fall to order the Trump administration to gradually terminate the policy. It's unclear when or how the judge will rule.

In its letter to Congress, DHS noted DACA is only a temporary protection that can be revoked.

"It comes with no right or entitlement to remain in the United States indefinitely. Aliens with certain criminal histories will not be considered for DACA," DHS said. "Further, those who violate the terms are also subject to termination and removal."

The high percentage of DACA arrestees with criminal histories, as outlined in the DHS letter, stands in sharp contrast with the lower criminality levels among the overall number of people taken into ICE custody under the second Trump administration. 

In President Trump's first year back in the White House, ICE arrested nearly 400,000 immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. According to an internal DHS document obtained by CBS News, less than 14% of arrestees had violent criminal records. Overall, 60% of those arrested by ICE over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, and about 40% did not have any criminal records, beyond civil immigration violations. 

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