How does DHS lawyer James Percival challenge the statistic on ICE detainees with violent records?

In a clip the hosts played, James Percival, general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, responded to an internal DHS figure that less than 14% of people detained by ICE in the administration's first year had a violent criminal record. He argued the violent-crime label is misleading because offenses such as viewing child pornography and heroin trafficking are not counted as violent.

DJ introduced Percival as the seventh general counsel of DHS under President Trump.
DJ also praised Percival's mocking posts about asylum claims on social media.

▸In their words

“they are absolutely cooking the books to erase the significant criminality and public safety threat” James Percival · at 1:10:16 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on REAL AF with Andy Frisella (2026-10-28). Read the whole episode summary →

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