(The Center Square) – More than 451,000 criminal noncitizens have been arrested and booked into local Texas jails over the past 14 years, according to an updated report published by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Among them are 322,000 who are confirmed to be in the U.S. illegally, according to available U.S. Department of Homeland Security data.

The data covers June 1, 2011, through Feb. 28, 2025, and represents DPS and local law enforcement agencies that participate in DHS’ Secure Communities program. The program enables DHS to work with state and local law enforcement to take custody of illegal foreign nationals who pose a danger to public safety as an alternative to them being released into local communities.

The data only pertains to Texas state offenses. It excludes criminal records from other states, federal criminal charges and data pertaining to foreign nationals who are legally in the country who committed a state crime.

Among the 322,000 confirmed illegal foreign nationals, law enforcement officials charged them with more than 564,000 combined criminal offenses, according to the data. They include arrests for 1,043 homicide charges; 73,025 assault charges; 10,096 burglary charges; 65,896 drug charges; 1,371 kidnapping charges; 28,601 theft charges; 44,080 obstructing police charges; 3,214 robbery charges; 7,177 sexual assault charges; 8,189 sexual offense charges; and 7,024 weapon charges.

The charges resulted in 208,000 convictions, including 533 for homicide; 26,670 for assault; 5,147 for burglary; 27,093 for drugs; 391 for kidnapping; 10,740 for theft; 17,084 for obstructing police; 1,834 for robbery; 3,508 for sexual assault; 3,733 for sexual offense; and 2,263 for weapons.

The data relates to foreign nationals who are in the U.S. illegally; not all arrested are in the DHS database at the time of their arrest, resulting in an inability to verify their citizenship. An individual’s lawful status is determined by matching fingerprints to a DHS database. If the arrestee’s fingerprints aren’t yet in the DHS database at the time of their Texas arrest, DHS isn’t able to biometrically verify their status, DPS explains.

Foreign nationals who illegally enter the U.S. and avoid detection, referred to as gotaways, and are later arrested by local or state law enforcement for a state offense may not be in the DHS database. Those who aren’t in the database aren’t included in the data, DPS explains.

In addition to the Secure Communities program, DHS adjudicates the immigration status of foreign nationals incarcerated in the Texas prison system. From 2011 through Feb. 28, 2025, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) provided DPS with information on more than 33,000 illegal foreign nationals identified by DHS while incarcerated. Among them, 11,001 weren’t identified through the Secure Communities program at the time of their arrest. “DPS does not know the current incarceration status of the individuals identified while they were incarcerated nor when their noncitizen status was initially determined,” the report explains.

Of the 11,001 TDCJ identified, they were incarcerated for a combined more than 11,016 criminal offenses, including charges for homicide (151); assault (1,437); burglary (600); drugs (1,933); kidnapping (65); theft (544); obstructing police (1,041); robbery (423); sexual assault (946); sexual offenses (440); and weapons (278).

According to DPS criminal history, the criminal charges resulted in more than 6,000 convictions including for homicide (117); assault (836); burglary (380); drugs (1,062); kidnapping (35); theft (290); obstructing police (457); robbery (313); sexual assault (693); sexual offense (316); and weapons (113).

The totals are up from more than 443,000 criminal noncitizens arrested, including 314,000 confirmed illegally in the country as of Sept. 30, 2024, The Center Square reported.

Among these are the nearly 50,000 arrests reported by local law enforcement in 2023, The Center Square reported.

The arrest and charges data don’t “necessarily align with the size of the population of illegal noncitizens identified while in prison,” the report explains. “A more accurate assessment can be seen when examining this population’s entire Texas criminal history and not just for offenses committed during this time period.”

The reports were updated using data as of March 1, 2025.

(The Center Square) – The University of Wisconsin–Madison is assessing federal activity along with other schools across the nation that are responding to President Donald Trump’s executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison continues “to assess the implications” of recent activity on the federal level and “respond across multiple levels,” according to a school message.

“As these federal orders, actions, and directives continue to roll out, some of them create deep concern for and potential conflict” with the the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s “long-held values” such as “diversity of identity and viewpoint,” the message stated, while also affirming its continued dedication to such values.

In its message, the University of Wisconsin–Madison also told of its response to the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague letter. The department’s letter stated that race-based decisions in education are unlawful and schools that don’t comply with the directives may face loss of federal funding.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s message said: “We have charged a workgroup to assess our existing operations and make recommendations about what potential adjustments, modifications and changes may be needed in response to the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter.”

When reached for comment, the University of Wisconsin–Madison directed The Center Square to its message.

Schools across the nation have been responding both to the Dear Colleague letter and Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order entitled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” along with other orders.

Trump’s order calls for the “termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”

University of Kentucky spokeswoman Whitney Siddiqi told The Center Square that the school continues “to carefully review all executive actions and guidance issued.”

“Given the changes that President Capilouto made in response to Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard – and his subsequent decisions last August on policies and practices that have reinforced and strengthened our focus on being a place that supports many people, one community – the university’s initial assessment is that it already complies,” Siddiqi said.

In August 2024, UK’s President Eli Capilouto announced that the school’s Office for Institutional Diversity would be disbanded.

Additionally, Capilouto said that diversity training would not be mandated, diversity statements would not be required in hiring or application processes, and that “websites will be free of political positions.”

The University of Kentucky still offers a Diversity and Inclusion Graduate Certificate, however.

More recently, Ohio State University and the University of Virginia announced the closing of their respective diversity and inclusion offices, The Center Square reported.

The University of Cincinnati, the University of Arizona, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, the University of California, Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, Brown University, and Cornell are all evaluating, reviewing, or monitoring the executive order, The Center Square previously reported.

The University of Washington Medicine spokeswoman Susan Gregg told The Center Square that the school’s previous comment stating it is continuing with its normal operations –w hich would presumably involve DEI – remains the same.

Michigan State University also told The Center Square there is “nothing new to share” concerning its previous comment that it “feels confident [it is] continuing to operate within federal and state laws” as it regards its manner of educating and hiring.

Columbia previously referred The Center Square to a “University statements page for latest updates and public statements on ongoing issues,” when reached for comment.

The page does not mention Trump’s January 20 DEI executive order, however Columbia recently removed DEI language from parts of its website and took down some DEI-related web pages, The Center Square reported

Case Western Reserve, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU each previously told The Center Square they had no comment regarding their respective responses to the order, with UC Irvine SOM saying it may have more information “as we learn more.” None of the schools provided updates to their responses when requested.

The following schools have not yet provided comment after repeated requests concerning each of their responses to the executive order:

• Harvard
• Stanford
• Duke
• Yale
• Penn
• Northwestern University
• The University of Chicago
• Boston University
• Emory University
• Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
• UC San Diego
• Indiana University
• The University of Pittsburgh
• Community College of Allegheny County
• University of Florida
• Florida State University
• East Carolina University
• University of Cincinnati
• Louisiana State University
• University of Mississippi
• University of Minnesota

(The Center Square) — Updated federal data shows California gained 76% fewer jobs in 2024 than initially estimated, gaining only 60,000 jobs, instead of the earlier announced 250,000 jobs. 

A 2024 state-funded report found that California private sector employment went into a downturn in 2022, with jobs growth only coming from the public sector and related employment. If this trend has continued, the state’s 0.3% jobs growth could have entirely come from taxpayer-financed government and government-adjacent hiring.

“The corrected data show that the state added just 60,000 jobs between September 2023 and September 2024. The monthly jobs report, which the administration and the Legislature relied on to gauge the economy during that period, showed the labor market growing steadily, appearing to add more than 250,000 jobs over that period,” wrote the state-funded Legislative Analyst’s Office. “Actual job growth for the year was 0.3 percent, compared to the 1.5 percent growth initially reported via the preliminary survey.”

The state-funded Legislative Analyst’s Office reported that between September 2022 and April 2024, the private sector lost 154,000 jobs, while the public and publicly-supported sector, which includes the healthcare sector — which is majority-funded by taxes via Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act premium subsidies — gained 361,000 jobs.

The governor has proposed withdrawing $7 billion from reserves this year, while increasing spending to $322 billion. Amid stock market volatility and uncertainty about federal funding, it’s unclear how much the state may have to cut from its projected revenue.