An investigation by The Dallas Express has uncovered that at least 125 individuals under federal immigration detainers have been charged with a total of 175 crimes in Collin County alone since January 1, 2025.
While an ICE detainer does not always confirm a suspect’s legal status, such holds are overwhelmingly issued for individuals unlawfully present in the country — commonly referred to as illegal aliens. For clarity and consistency, this article refers to these individuals as “aliens” or ICE-detained offenders.
These defendants — each flagged by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — are not just being held for administrative violations. Their charges include assaults on police officers, drug trafficking, child exploitation, and even bestiality, according to county jail data reviewed by DX.
Most Common Charges: Assaulting Law Enforcement, Drug Possession
The most frequently filed charge was assault of a peace officer, with 32 cases recorded against inmates with ICE detainers. These charges include offenses ranging from resisting arrest to physically attacking law enforcement — crimes that carry serious felony penalties under Texas law.
Drug possession came in as the second most common charge, with 25 separate cases tied to aliens under ICE hold. Methamphetamine and cocaine remain common in Texas drug arrests, and even simple possession can trigger severe penalties. This tracks with Texas Criminal Defense Group data showing drug possession as the second-most reported crime statewide.
Illegal Aliens Face Disproportionate Number of Sex Crime Charges
Perhaps most disturbing are the numerous sex crimes linked to this population, which the aliens appeared to be far overrepresented in. At least 10 of the ICE-detained inmates face charges related to crimes against children.
Additional charges included four counts of sex crimes against adults, one count of child pornography, and one case involving invasive visual recording—a charge typically used in cases of voyeurism or secret filming. These sex-related charges collectively outnumber theft, which accounted for 15 offenses in this group.
Illegal aliens in Collin County appeared significantly overrepresented in sex-related offenses. No sex crime appears in the Texas Criminal Defense Group’s statewide reporting data.
Other charges included bestiality, fraud, burglary, robbery, resisting arrest, racketeering, escape from custody, tampering with evidence, and stealing a firearm.
By contrast, statewide, theft reportedly remains the most common offense—over 400,000 theft-related cases are filed statewide annually. Drug possession and simple assault follow closely behind, according to data from the Texas Criminal Defense Group.
Chart: Offense Breakdown Among ICE-Detained Inmates
Distribution of 175 charges filed against 125 ICE-detained inmates in Collin County as of mid-2025. Violent crimes, drug offenses, and sex crimes account for a significant majority. (Source: Collin County Jail Records via The Dallas Express)
A pie chart based on Collin County jail records shows the distribution of 175 charges filed against 125 individuals under ICE detainers in 2025. The visual confirms that violent offenses, sex crimes, and drug-related charges far outpace low-level or non-violent infractions among this group.
-
Assault on peace officers was the most common charge, making up 18.29% of all charges.
-
Drug possession followed at 14.29%, consistent with statewide enforcement trends.
-
9.71% of the cases involved individuals held on ICE detainers alone, with no local criminal charges listed.
-
Charges involving sex crimes against children (5.71%), sex crimes against adults (2.29%), and invasive visual recording (0.57%) collectively outnumbered theft.
-
Other charges included bestiality, child pornography, stealing a firearm, and racketeering, underscoring public safety concerns.
Broader Trends Across Texas
The unusually high concentration of violent and sex-related crimes among those held under ICE detainers in Collin County mirrors broader statewide and national concerns.
In Harris County, where the jail holds roughly 9,500 inmates, more than 1,100 are under ICE detainers, according to a Fox News open records request. That report revealed that 43% of those inmates were charged with heinous crimes, including capital murder and sexual assault of children under 14.
An ICE detainer—officially known as an “immigration detainer request”—is a notice sent by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to local law enforcement agencies. It asks that the agency hold an individual for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so that ICE can take custody and begin proceedings. While detainers are civil in nature, they often overlap with criminal charges, as in the case of these 125 defendants in Collin County.
Seventeen aliens were held on detainers alone and had no other listed offense.
The names of the jailed aliens indicated that the vast majority of suspects were of Hispanic origin. The remainder appeared to be Asian (including Middle Eastern) or African. Less than a handful had names indicating that the offender was a woman.
The average daily jail population of Collin County was around 1,000 in 2024, according to Sheriff’s Department data. It is unclear how many of these aliens remain in county custody given their detainers.
Harris County Case Echoes Trend
The findings in Collin County echo a broader trend reported in major urban jails across Texas. In October 2024, Fox News obtained records showing that roughly 1 in 10 inmates in Harris County jails were under ICE detainers. That included defendants accused of capital murder, child rape, and other violent felonies. Records revealed that nearly half of those flagged for deportation were charged with violent crimes, and more than 170 were tied to sexual assault cases—over half involving children under 14.
The Harris County data also reportedly included two Venezuelan nationals charged in the rape and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, a case that drew national attention. Her mother publicly blamed the Biden administration’s immigration policies for allowing the men to remain in the country.
One of the suspects was reportedly linked to Tren de Aragua, a violent transnational gang known to operate in several Latin American countries and now active in the United States.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey told The New York Post,
“It’s no surprise to me that there are those in our country illegally committing crimes like the tragic murder of Jocelyn Nungaray.”
Nungaray’s death helped highlight then-Candidate Donald Trump’s anti-illegal immigration agenda in the 2024 presidential election.