Raise your hand if you think all convicted murderers, burglars, drug dealers, thieves, armed robbers, rapists, arsonists and weapons traffickers should be incarcerated. You’re in good company.

Law-abiding people across the political spectrum agree with you. But not the Biden-Harris administration, including Alejandro Mayorkas, its previously impeached homeland security secretary. It has allowed over 95% of illegal aliens who have been convicted of serious crimes to roam the country freely.

The administration’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Patrick Lecheiter, has confirmed this. On Sept. 25, he wrote Congress a letter offering those numbers in detail but in a roundabout way. The letter included a chart that divides the 662,566 criminal illegal aliens into two broad categories: those detained by ICE and those not detained.

The chart also lists, by crime, the number of convicted illegal aliens who have been detained vs. not detained and the number of illegal aliens charged, by crime, in the detained vs. not detained ICE docket.

Keep in mind that in the United States, the median time served for convicted murderers is 17.5 years, 7.2 years for rapists and 3.2 years for robbers, according to the Department of Justice.

As a result of the administration’s mass parole, “catch and release” and other irresponsible immigration policies, the percentage of alien criminals convicted of serious crimes in custody is abysmal:

• Burglary: 2.6%

• Dangerous drugs: 2.4%

• Fraud: 1.9%

• Homicide: 2.1%

• Larceny: 1.8%

• Robbery: 2.8%

• Sexual assault: 3.2%

• Weapons offenses: 3.4%

Percentages aside, the pure number of alien criminals convicted of serious crimes whom the Biden-Harris administration allowed to roam the country instead of locking them up is stunning:

• Burglary: 14,301

• Dangerous drugs: 56,533

• Fraud: 15,979

• Homicide: 13,099

• Larceny: 18,234

• Robbery: 10,031

• Sexual assault: 15,811

• Weapons offenses: 13,423

Think about those numbers for a minute. In 2022, there were 21,156 homicides in the United States. Yet the Biden-Harris administration decided to allow 13,099 illegal aliens who were convicted of homicide and 1,845 others charged with homicide to roam our streets.

What excuse can there be for this reckless choice?

Keep in mind that ICE has a capacity of 41,500 spaces to detain aliens. Elements of the federal government, including the military, could set up temporary holding sites on military bases and other federal properties for tens of thousands of more criminal aliens. So why isn’t every single convicted murderer, rapist and weapons trafficker in ICE custody right now?

The number of illegal aliens convicted or charged with homicide, kidnapping and sexual assault is 39,468. That means that every one of these killers, kidnappers and sexual deviants could be locked up, keeping them out of our communities and protecting the public from more crime. Yet the Department of Homeland Security acknowledges that it has detained only 1,091 of them. That’s less than 3%.

These deliberate policies have left a trail of misery and death across the country.

That is particularly true for the families of those targeted—such as New York police officers Richard Yarusso and Christopher Abreu, who were shot. A Venezuelan gang member has been charged with the attack. Or Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed in Athens, Georgia. An illegal alien from Venezuela with a criminal record has been charged with murder in her death.

Border czar Kamala Harris has touted her time as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general as proof that she is tough on crime. As our colleague Zack Smith has written, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

But think about it another way: Would you approve of a district attorney with a track record of sending to prison only 2.1% of convicted murderers and 3.2% of convicted rapists? We wouldn’t.

This is outrageous. This is dangerous. This is reckless. Everyone in the country who has a family member who has been injured, killed or assaulted, or has had their property burglarized, stolen, burned or otherwise damaged by these 662,566 criminal illegal aliens should know whom to blame for these criminals being in the country and allowed to roam the streets.

It’s President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Republished from The Heritage Foundation.