ICE Agents Arrest Hundreds of Immigrants in Nationwide Crackdown

Authorities from the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in six states last week. 

The series of raids came were the first targeted enforcement operations of President Trump’s Jan. 25 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living in America illegally.

The operations targeted public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws, including those who illegally re-entered the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges, according to a statement from ICE.

ICE officers in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, San Antonio, and New York City arrested more than 680 undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries who pose a threat to public safety, border security, or the integrity of our nation’s immigration system, stated ICE.

Of those taken into custody, ICE said approximately 75 percent were criminal aliens, or convicted of such crimes as: homicide, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual assault of a minor, lewd and lascivious acts with a child, indecent liberties with a minor, drug trafficking, battery, assault, DUI and weapons charges.

Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said they were part of “routine” immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term “raids,” and prefers to say authorities are conducting “targeted enforcement actions,” she said.

Immigration activists meanwhile said ICE authorities’ actions went beyond the six states DHS identified, and because undocumented immigrants with no criminal records were also arrested and could potentially be deported, immigrant communities nationwide fear this is only the beginning.

“This is clearly the first wave of attacks under the Trump administration, and we know this isn’t going to be the only one,” Cristina Jimenez, executive director of United We Dream, an immigrant youth organization, said Friday during a conference call with immigration advocates.

Image: "100203houston lg.jpg" by United States Department of Homeland Security. Used under public domain.