The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau announced the arrest of criminal aliens and immigration violators in North Texas and Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and the Los Angeles area. Commenting on the arrests by the Chicago Enforcement and Removal (ERO) office, Director Ricardo Wong said, “This operation targeted criminal aliens, public safety threats, and individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws. Operations like this reflect the vital work our ERO officers do every day to protect our communities, uphold public safety and protect the integrity of our immigration laws.”
The 10-day enforcement action in North Texas and Oklahoma netted 98 arrestees from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Marshall Islands, Pakistan and Peru. 67 had criminal convictions or prior criminal histories involving alien smuggling, assault, burglary, discharge of a firearm, domestic violence, driving under the influence, drug trafficking, fraud, illegal entry, hit & run, homicide, larceny, sex assault, and sex offense against a child. 29 of those arrested illegally re-entered the United States after having been previously deported.
In the four-day enforcement action in Wisconsin, ICE Agents arrested 83 aliens from Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. More than half had prior criminal histories that included convictions for assault, sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, receiving stolen property, driving under the influence, identity theft, illegal re-entry after deportation, indecent liberty with a minor, theft, and weapon offenses. 16 were immigration fugitives with no previous criminal convictions, while 21 others illegally re-entered the United States after having been previously deported.
Agents conducting the three-day operation in the Los Angeles area apprehended 150 criminal aliens and immigration violators. 90 percent of arrestees had criminal convictions. Others were suspected of crimes ranging from attempted murder to DUI.
Speaking to a reporter, Los Angeles ERO Agent Thomas Giles criticized California’s sanctuary law. He said, “Going back out into the community, [criminal aliens] more than likely prey upon the immigrants or the people of that community. There's numerous cases that we had during this operation where they've been arrested multiple times by the local law enforcement agencies, and we've had multiple detainers placed on these people but due to the state law, we were unable to take custody of these people in a secure environment…We're actually going into these communities, which puts not only our officers at risk but the community members as well.“
