The total number of federal arrests of Mexican nationals living in the United States now exceeds the total number of federal arrests of American citizens, federal data reveals.
A new report by the Department of Justice (DOJ) finds that in 2018, the number of Mexican nationals arrested for federal crimes exceeded the number of American citizens who were arrested for federal crimes by about 8,000 arrests.
For example, more than 78,000 federal arrests of Mexicans were made last year. Compare that to the roughly 70,500 federal arrests made of American citizens the same year. Over 20 years, the number of federal arrests made of Mexican nationals in the U.S. has soared by 175 percent while federal arrests of Americans grew by only 10 percent.
Likewise, the number of federal arrests of non-U.S. citizens is nearly double the arrests of Americans. In 2018, law enforcement officials arrested more than 125,000 non-U.S. citizens for federal crimes — a 234 percent increase since 1998.
Central Americans in the U.S. have had the largest increase in federal arrests over the last two decades. In 1998, only about 1,200 Central Americans were arrested for federal crimes. Fast-forward to 2018, when nearly 40,000 Central Americans were arrested for federal crimes. This indicates an increase in federal arrests of more than 3,300 percent over the last 20 years. – READ MORE