Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
Courtesy of Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance
July 7, 2026: “They walk among us,” screams the White House’s alien-themed website tracking immigration arrests — as if immigrants being part of U.S. communities was a problem. Actually, the problem is with this website, full of egregious errors and ham-handed attempts to replace a fact-based narrative with government propaganda.
Today, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance released its latest data-driven report that shows the Trump administration is lying about who it is arresting, detaining, and deporting. “Counting Errors, Missing Denominators, and Misplaced Arrests: An Ohio Case Study of the White House ‘Alien Arrest’ Tracker” compares White House data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, revealing startling discrepancies that show the White House site cannot be trusted.
“Somebody in the White House thinks they can use a juvenile, alien-themed website to feed us a pack of lies, and say that immigrants are dangerous. But the people ICE is arresting are just like you and me, people who just want to live their lives and take care of their families,,” said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “Mark Twain said there are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. This website contains all three. The American people deserve truth from our government, not gaslighting. In painstaking detail, our report reveals why this website, and this government, cannot be trusted.”
Comparing the White House data to data from the same source, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests from the Deportation Data Project, the OIA report identified four key problems with the White House site.
Focusing on Ohio data alone, the White House site identifies barely half of the total ICE arrests, and creates a false impression of actual criminal activity. The site obscures the actual locations of arrests, making it harder for community members to get a real picture of ICE activity in their areas. Finally, the site includes multiple egregious errors, including spelling and parsing mistakes that would be comical if they weren’t so serious, and offers no methodology. It’s difficult to imagine the site underwent any sort of quality review, given the amount of fatal errors in the final product.
A similar thing happened in 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security published a “name and shame” list of alleged “sanctuary cities.” That list also contained numerous misspellings and inaccuracies. After harsh criticism, the government removed the list from its website. Clearly, the latest arrest site deserves a similar fate.
“Counting Errors, Missing Denominators, and Misplaced Arrests: An Ohio Case Study of the White House ‘Alien Arrest’ Tracker” was prepared by analyst John Drury.