Members of the Republican Congressional Hispanic Conference are urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus its arrests of illegal immigrants on those who have committed crimes.

CHC Chairman Tony Gonzales (R-TX) led five other House Republicans in a letter to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons asking the agency to “give absolute priority to every violent offender and convicted criminal
illegal alien,” according to a press release issued Thursday afternoon.

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“While we do agree that we are a nation of laws — and that all who crossed our borders illegally are subject to those laws — there are levels of priority that must be considered when it comes to immigration enforcement,” the six lawmakers wrote in the letter. “Every minute that we spend pursuing an individual with a clean record is a minute less that we dedicate to apprehending terrorists or cartel operatives.”

Reps. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), David Valadao (R-CA), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), and Gabe Evans (R-CO) signed the letter.

The lawmakers walked a careful line, not criticizing the Trump administration for targeting noncriminal illegal immigrants as part of its mass deportation efforts, but instead calling for an increase in efforts to go after the most dangerous criminals.

“We stand by President [Donald] Trump to ensure our border security is restored. However, in order to truly claim success, we need to give absolute priority to every violent offender and convicted criminal illegal alien present in our nation,” the lawmakers wrote. “Diverting limited resources to other objectives puts our national security at risk.”

ICE previously revealed in correspondence with Gonzales that more than 600,000 illegal immigrants with criminal charges were in the United States awaiting proceedings in immigration court.

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The caucus members asked ICE to release how many of the 100,000 illegal immigrants it has arrested since January were convicted criminals or had ties to criminal organizations, the obstacles that it has faced repatriating illegal immigrants, what it needs from Congress to boost its efforts, and other related questions.

Lawmakers gave ICE a deadline of June 30 to answer those questions.