Is ICE Really Arresting Violent Criminals? Here's the real deal.

In the glittering enclave of the MAGA-dominant Palm Beach, José Gonzalez had been a beloved fixture for decades — the charming manager of BiCE Ristorante who remembered every patron’s name and made the elite feel at home.

Yet on a routine December day, while running errands in his nephew’s pickup truck, the Mexico native was pulled over for darkly tinted windows, handed over to immigration authorities despite a valid work permit and pending asylum case, and vanished into the remote Everglades facility infamously known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

With no criminal record nor violent history, a mere traffic stop swept a pillar of the community into detention for nearly two weeks, sparking outrage and rallies among the very wealthy circles he served. Mr. Gonzalez’s story, however, is no outlier. While he was released after 12 days in detention and much public outcry, many others in his situation have not shared the same fate.

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on neighborhoods across America last year, the Trump administration framed the operations in stark terms. These were raids targeting dangerous criminals. The administration promised to remove what Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem repeatedly called “the worst of the worst.”

The data tell a different story.