The Department of Homeland Security has added 5,000 arrests to its “Worst of the Worst” website displaying illegal immigrants’ crimes.
This brings the total number of criminal arrests on the site to more than 35,000, the department said in a Monday statement.
The criminal histories of those arrested include homicide, sex offenses against children, driving under the influence, aggravated assault, hit and run, drug possession and arson. The most recent arrests include those from Honduras, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Vietnam, Liberia, El Salvador, India, Ukraine and Laos.
One of those put on the WOW list, Ukrainian Vladimir Kapnik, has a criminal history that includes child neglect, aircraft theft and amphetamine manufacturing.
“If you see an ICE law enforcement officer, thank them for removing these thugs from your neighborhoods,” acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
The department touted additional arrests on Tuesday, including Omar Blas-Pineda of Mexico, who was convicted for predatory criminal sexual assault in Lake County, Illinois, and Peruvian Christhian Meza, who was convicted for robbery in Queens, New York.
“Our ICE law enforcement officers truly are the best of the best. They put their lives on the line every day to arrest the worst of the worst,” Ms. Bis said. “Yesterday, they arrested multiple rapists, violent assailants, and robbers.”
Those held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers without criminal convictions made up 70.8% — 42,722 out of 60,311 — as of early April, according to TRAC Immigration, a Syracuse University-operated immigration data source.
Roughly 18,700 have pending criminal charges, while almost 24,000 are listed as “other immigration violator,” according to ICE’s fiscal 2026 statistics.
Advocacy groups and internal reports indicate that a large portion of the arrests made by DHS involve individuals with no criminal record or minor, nonviolent offenses.
DHS’ operations have resulted in the arrests of over 7,000 gang members and 1,416 known or suspected terrorists and severe offenders nationwide, according to the department.
“We catch terrorists on a weekly basis trying to enter this country illegally, or already entered this country illegally,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told a congressional panel Tuesday.
