Colorado Republican Rep. Gabe Evans tells ICE don't waste resources on immigrants with no criminal record

Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican representing Colorado's 8th Congressional District, is urging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus on arresting and deporting dangerous criminals.

 Evans and five other U.S. House Republicans -- all members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference -- sent a letter to the interim director of ICE warning him not to use "limited resources to pursue individuals that do not constitute a threat to public safety."

"We just have to make sure now that we're a few months into the new administration that we're keeping the focus where it needs to be," Evans told CBS Colorado. 

Evans says, based on ICE's own records from last summer, there were nearly 660,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S. with criminal records, including 13,000 convicted murderers.

"The focus from a public safety, from a national security lens must remain on deploying all available resources to find these 600,000 plus criminals."

Last month, the Trump administration told ICE to shoot for 3,000 arrests per day. Critics say that's led to agents casting too wide of a net to meet the quota.

Based on government data obtained by CBS News, ICE is over capacity with about 59,000 people in custody. Forty-seven percent of them have no criminal record.

But Evans says the ICE facility in Colorado is a different story. It has room for 1,500 detainees and has about 1,300 in custody. Homeland Security data shows 57% of them have been convicted or charged with crimes; 27% have received deportation orders from immigration judges. The rest are considered a flight or safety risk said Evans, who visited the facility last week.

"So the same way that we treat American citizens, you go through that risk analysis and then figure out from a public safety or a flight perspective do we need to keep this person in custody pending final removal," Evans said. 

Evans says not every undocumented immigrant should be deported.

His grandfather crossed the border illegally and then earned his citizenship by serving in World War II.

"We have got to have a viable pathway forward, a workable pathway forward for people like my family that want to come to the United States, work hard, raise their families, live the American Dream," Evans said. 

Evans admits current laws don't provide that pathway.

Stay tuned," Evans said. "I'll drop a little teaser here. We're doing a lot of work in that, and this is a continuing conversation that I'm sure we'll continue to have in the next couple of weeks and months."

Evans says he is not aware of any raids on businesses or farms in Colorado. He says, unless the raids are associated with criminal activity, he doesn't support them.

It's estimated, ICE has deported about 100,000 people so far this year.

Evans and his congressional colleagues asked the interim director of ICE how many had criminal convictions, what crimes they were convicted of, whether their countries of origin are cooperating, and if he needs additional resources to focus on the 660,000 criminals it's identified.

They gave the director until Monday to respond.