Hasan Piker Says 70% of ICE Detainees Have No Convictions: What Data Shows

Hasan Piker told viewers that 70 percent of people held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have no criminal conviction. The government's latest detention data backs that figure, but not his broader claim about where ICE finds the convicted criminals it does hold.

The streamer was reacting to Thursday's shooting in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx. Federal agents fired several rounds at a man in his car, with his 5-year-old child inside, Fox 35 reported. Piker relayed police statements that one agent fired at least seven rounds, and played a news clip saying the man was hit in the neck.

Hasan Piker on ICE Detainees and Criminal Convictions

On his show, Piker rejected a Department of Homeland Security statement defending ICE's work in New York. He said 70 percent of current detainees "have no criminal convictions and the rest of them that have criminal convictions range from misdemeanors to people who have committed heinous crimes."

He said the agency boosts its share of convicted detainees by collecting people already behind bars: "in order to pad the stats to get it up to like at least 30 these guys go to the department of corrections and grab as many undocumented migrants with a criminal rap sheet."

His numbers were not consistent. Earlier in the same segment he said ICE, even while padding its figures, "still can't get above 25 percent." Minutes later he put the split at "70 30."

What TRAC Data Shows

The 70 percent figure is close to the record. Of the 65,765 people in ICE detention on July 11, 46,436, or 70.6 percent, had no criminal conviction, according to TRAC Immigration at Syracuse University, which compiles ICE's own statistics. That leaves 29.4 percent with a conviction, which fits Piker's "70 30" better than his 25 percent.

The share has changed little in eight months. It was 73.6 percent in November 2025 and 70.8 percent in April.

"No conviction" does not mean no criminal record. That group includes people with pending charges. As of Jan. 7, ICE data showed 26 percent of detainees had convictions, 26 percent had pending charges and 48 percent had neither, PolitiFact found.

The Prison Pipeline Claim Is Only Partly Supported

Piker said that every real criminal ICE deports comes "from the prison system." Arrest data supports only part of that.

In late 2024, nearly two-thirds of ICE arrests were of people already held in jails and prisons, according to a Deportation Data Project analysis cited by the American Immigration Council. By December 2025 and January 2026, most arrests took place "at-large" in communities, and two out of three of those people had no criminal record.

But 17 percent of the at-large arrests in that period involved someone with a prior conviction. ICE does pick up convicted people on the street, so the agency does not get its convicted detainees only from prisons, as Piker said.

The DHS 'Operation Rotten Apple' Statement

The DHS statement Piker read aloud and dismissed credited ICE with 2,197 arrests across New York between July 27 and Aug. 29 under "Operation Rotten Apple." As Piker read it, DHS said those arrested included murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers and violent assailants. News 12 reported that DHS announced more than 2,100 arrests and that those arrested were charged with crimes, including murder, rape and drug trafficking. DHS listed the kinds of offenses but did not say how many of the people arrested fit each one.

Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit Fewer Crimes?

Piker also said that "undocumented migrants commit less crimes per capita than natural born u.s citizens do." The strongest evidence comes from Texas, which records the immigration status of everyone arrested. A 2020 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences used Texas Department of Public Safety data and found that undocumented immigrants were arrested for violent crimes at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens.

What Happens Next

Piker treated the shooting as a test for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In a statement Piker played, Mamdani said he had called President Donald Trump and "i will demand that he ends all ice enforcement actions in our city." Piker also pointed to the mayor's police commissioner. "This is a real stress test between Zohran and Jessica Tisch," he said. The streamer has been pressing Democratic leaders to fight back harder.

Neither the White House nor DHS has said whether ICE operations in the city will change.