Katie Couric laments that only 14% of people detained by ICE are violent criminals and argues that “there are plenty of nonviolent people in prison” in an interview with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on her podcast.

KATIE COURIC, HOST: This whole argument about the role of Minneapolis police in this or Minneapolis state officials might be more applicable, Senator, if ICE agents were truly talking about the worst of the worst, as the president likes to say. Less than 14 percent of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE in President Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News. So isn’t all this talk about ridding the country of violent criminals a massive overstatement, if less than 14 percent, again, of the 400,000 immigrants being arrested had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses? SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Well, I think the facts make a difference. And so that’s one of the questions we will ask. And so when you come to Minneapolis, if they have a policy that says, oh, we’re not going to turn over from our jails nonviolent prisoners, people who are, I don’t know why you’re in prison if you’re nonviolent, but maybe you have a drug crime that’s a nonviolent. COURIC: I think there are plenty of nonviolent people in prison. PAUL: But the thing is, that’s not their policy. Their policy is we will turn no one over. So you can be, you beat somebody half to death, you get an assault charge, and you’re in jail for a couple years, and somehow you’re getting out on parole, and you’re not going to be turned over and you’re illegal. I’ve got a problem with that, and so do probably most independents and Democrats. But that’s what we have to ascertain. And the thing is, is that’s not the policy of Mayor Frey. He did not come forward and say, we’re not going to turn over nonviolent prisoners. He just simply said, we’re not going to cooperate at all. And if you do cooperate, and this is Ellison’s edict to them, it’s actually against the law for you to cooperate. So if you happen to have a Republican county and a Republican judge who wants to turn over people in jail once their term has expired to be deported, they’ve actually made that illegal. And so we should have a debate in our country whether that’s advisable. And I think most people are in the middle. I think most people actually hate what the use of force that they saw with Alexander Pretty. But I think if you ask them, if a guy’s committed rape and he’s in prison, and he’s going to get out, do you want him deported? I think people would say, hell yes, he ought to be deported. COURIC: Let me say that though, what about the 14%? Such a low percentage of 400,000 people. PAUL: If your daughter gets raped by the guy that gets back out and he’s one of the 14%, I don’t think you’re going to quibble about whether it’s 14 or 64. What I’m saying is, if you’re not going to turn over anybody, then that’s 0%. I don’t think the percentage, it makes a halfway argument to how much effort we have. But if Minnesota is not going to turn over anybody, the whole argument, whether it’s 14 or 86, doesn’t mean anything. So if they’re not turning over anybody, then inevitably there are, and there are many emotional cases. The Laken Riley case of a guy that had been arrested, should have been deported. He was a thug, he was arrested multiple times up in New York. The government paid to send this thug to look for a job in Atlanta. It was almost like, we’ll give you a bus ticket so your crime committing person will send you to some other state. But to Laken Riley’s family, it was a big deal, and it is a big deal to people who care about what happened to her, that if that person had been deported. Now you might tell me that person’s an anomaly, he’s only one in 100, but up in Laken Riley’s family, I don’t care if it’s one in 100. The one in 100 people who are violent, if that’s a number, or if it’s 14 in 100, we want them deported. And look, you’re looking at someone who’s moderate on this issue. I don’t appreciate what they’re doing. I don’t like the crowd control, but I do want violent people who are in prison detained and given over to ICE. And if Minnesota is not doing that, they’re part of the problem. COURIC: I should point out, Senator Paul, that Laken Riley’s father has cautioned lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to refrain from using her death as a political wedge.

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