US releases searchable list of criminal illegal aliens arrested – two are from Malaysia (Singapore has one)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the United States of America’s federal executive department responsible for public security.
Their missions involve anti-terrorism, civil defence, immigration, customs, border control, cybersecurity, transportation security, maritime security, sea rescue and mitigation of weapons of mass destruction.
Recently, DHS launched a new public website called “Arrested: Worst of the Worst” where they highlight, in their own words, the “worst of the worst criminal aliens” arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to the department, it is a component of the Trump administration’s transparency initiative, enabling the public to track enforcement actions and search up people who have been apprehended in their neighborhoods.
Each item contains the individual’s name, portrait, place of arrest, country of origin, and the offenses for which they were found guilty.
Two Malaysian nationals and one Singaporean are listed in the registry
Mohammed Farouk bin Mohammed Ali and Normala binti Nur Islam were both convicted for smuggling “aliens” (a US term for migrants), with Mohammed Farouk having an additional conviction for marijuana offences.
Both were arrested in San Antonio, Texas, a major transit point for smuggling routes at the US-Mexico border.
There’s no indication on whether the two were arrested together as accomplices or separately.
Meanwhile, Amos Pang Sang Yee from Singapore is also in the registry, convicted for Enticement of Minor for Indecent Purposes, Sexual Exploitation of Minor via Telecommunications. He was arrested in Chicago, Illinois.
In 2020, Amos Yee was arrested at his apartment in Chicago for solicitation, possession of child pornography, and child grooming.
He was sentenced to six years in prison and was released on parole on 7 October 2023, but was rearrested for violating his parole conditions. On 20 November 2025, he was released again under early parole.
What does it mean to be on the DHS “Worst of the Worst” list?
Worst of the Worst is a label the DHS is using to identify and publicly highlight non-US citizens (often described as “criminal illegal aliens”) whom the agency says have serious criminal histories such as convictions or charges for violent or dangerous crimes like murder, sexual assault, drug trafficking, kidnapping, gang activity and so on.
Individuals listed on the site are held in federal detention without bail and are placed in expedited removal proceedings, or deportation.
After all documentations are prepared, ICE will coordinate with the Malaysian consulate to issue travel documents before placing them on an ICE Air flight.
Deportation cases used to be mostly anonymous, but now the DHS website publicly displays their identities, mug pictures, and criminal histories. Future travel may be impacted for them because other nations may use shared security information or publicly available records to determine admittance.
Most on the list were arrested for nonviolent offences
American researcher and expert on legal immigration David J. Bier reported that of all the individuals DHS claims are the “worst of the worst”, 56 percent have not been charged with any violent crimes.
He also noted that a quarter of the “worst of the worst” offenders had nothing more than a vice, traffic infraction (excluding driving under the influence), or immigration charges.
Bier wrote that ICE had arrested about 281,000 people since 20 January this year, and the DHS data includes 9,800 individuals, classifying just four percent of ICE arrests as “the worst of the worst”.
The legal immigration expert said that many of the so-called “worst of the worst” offences were nothing more than “evasion” — fleeing, resisting, impeding, or obstructing — which are offences related to avoiding the law rather than threatening the public.
“How can someone be labelled as one of ‘the worst of the worst illegal immigrants’ when the only charge against them is, essentially, being an illegal immigrant? It makes no sense in DHS’s own terms,” he wrote.
Bier claims that there are many serious offenders left off the list, and that the list itself implies that DHS has adopted an “extremely broad definition of worst of the worst”.
