After a four-day sweep in Southern California 244 criminal aliens (both legal and illegal) were taken into custody by ICE. According to ICE officials 56% of those in custody had at least one felony conviction on their record including: child sex crimes, weapons charges, and drug violations. The majority of the other 44% had significant or multiple misdemeanors.
Among those arrested were a 35 year-old who was convicted in 2002 for sexual abuse with force in New York, a 50-year-old convicted of two criminal counts of child sex abuse was captured in Los Angeles County, and a 46-year-old man who previously served 10 years in prison for sexually abusing two children was taken into custody as well.
The sweep comes only two months after the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by an illegal alien. Her death received national attention prompting more cooperation between local authorities and ICE.
The sweep was led by ICE’s National Fugitive Operations Program, which works to find at-large criminals for deportation.
Those arrested in the sweep that have not been deported before or are not facing any new charges will get the chance to plead their case before a judge.
Read More at the Los Angeles Times.