KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A new report from the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference is revealing the number of individuals who were illegally in the United States and were charged with or convicted of a crime in each Tennessee county during 2025.
The report, released Saturday, compiles data reported from law enforcement from 94 of 95 counties in the states for at least one month last year. Seventy-six of Tennessee’s counties provided information for each month of 2025.
Several East Tennessee school districts closed Monday amid winter weather
In total, the conference said there were reports of more than 11,340 reports of individuals who were suspected of not being in the U.S. legally who were charged or convicted of a criminal offense in the state. Per county, the following reports were made in East Tennessee:
- Anderson — 94
- Blount — 257
- Claiborne — 11
- Campbell — 20
- Cocke — 17
- Cumberland — 98
- Fentress — five
- Grainger — 10
- Greene — 27
- Hamblen — 223
- Hawkins — 11
- Jefferson — 37
- Knox — 981
- Loudon — 131
- McMinn — 38
- Monroe — 28
- Morgan — 0
- Roane — 17
- Sevier — 341
- Union — 0
According to the conference, the reports of individuals suspected of being in the country illegally were connected to more than 21,000 total charges, including 2,183 violent crimes. The report includes a list of the top 10 of offenses reported, compiled of the five most serious charges per each reported individual.
- Traffic offenses — 3955
- Driving without a license — 3771
- DUI — 2920
- Driving on a suspended or revoked license — 1547
- Domestic assault — 966
- Failure to appear — 790
- Public intoxication — 707
- Open container — 623
- Aggravated assault — 452
- Violation of probation — 429
The report also included statistics about the number of charges and convictions for the most severe crimes, including domestic assault and aggravated assault. Those statistics are listed in part below.
- First-degree murder — eight
- Unclassified homicide — 19
- Second-degree — four
- Rape of a child — 11
- Aggravated rape — seven
- Continuous sexual abuse of a child— three
- Aggravated kidnapping — 40
- Aggravated robbery — Nine
- Vehicular homicide — 10
The report included statistics on reported country of origin with the most common being Mexico (3,970) followed by Guatemala (2,325) and Honduras (1,479).
Of the reported cases that the conference could trace on January 30, 2,281 cases were still open, and 829 had resulted in a guilty plea. An additional 367 had resulted in a guilty plea either for the initial crimes charged or lesser charges…