36 criminal aliens and fugitives arrested in ICE enforcement

I.C.E. News Release

January 29, 2010

36 criminal aliens and fugitives were arrested in ICE enforcement surge

3 gang members were among those captured in the 4-day operation

WASHINGTON - Thirty-two foreign nationals with criminal records and four fugitives were arrested in the Commonwealth of Virginia and Washington, D.C., following a four-day enforcement surge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

During the operation, which concluded Thursday, ICE officers located and arrested 32 criminal aliens with prior convictions for a variety of crimes, including robbery and narcotics possession with intent to distribute and four immigration fugitives.

This special operation involved more than 20 officers from ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service, as well as several other state and local agencies. In the first quarter of FY 2010, local ICE officers arrested 298 aliens of which 60 percent had criminal histories and 94 percent were immigration fugitives.

"A top priority for the Washington Field Office is to locate and arrest criminal aliens and ultimately remove them from our country in a safe and humane manner," said Enrique M. Lucero, field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Washington, D.C. "This operation is yet another example of the critical roles that multi-agency cooperation and targeted immigration enforcement play in protecting our communities."

The Northern Virginia area accounted for the largest number of arrests made during the operation where a total of 20 criminal aliens were arrested. Twelve criminal aliens were arrested in the Harrisonburg area. Of the 36 arrested, 30 were men and six were women and represent more than 16 different nations, including countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Caribbean, and Africa.

Because of their serious criminal histories and prior immigration arrest records, three of those arrested during the enforcement surge will face further federal prosecution for reentering the country illegally after a formal deportation.

The foreign nationals detained during the operation who are not being criminally prosecuted will be processed administratively for removal from the United States. Those who have outstanding orders of deportation, or who returned to the United States illegally after being deported, are subject to immediate removal from the country. The remaining aliens are in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge, or pending travel arrangements for removal in the near future.

This week's special enforcement action was spearheaded by ICE's Fugitive Operations Program, which is responsible for locating, arresting, and removing at large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives - aliens who have ignored final orders of deportation handed down by the nation's immigration courts. ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams (FOTs) give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and public safety, including members of transnational street gangs and child sex offenders.

Last year, ICE's 104 FOTs nationwide made 35,094 arrests. More than 31,000 of those arrests, or nearly 89 percent, involved immigration fugitives and aliens with prior criminal convictions. Criminal aliens specifically accounted for approximately 45 percent of the overall total, including more than 3,600 individuals with prior convictions for violent crimes, such as murder and assault.

The officers who conducted this week's special operation received substantial assistance from ICE's Fugitive Operations Support Center (FOSC) located in South Burlington, Vermont. The FOSC conducted exhaustive database checks on the targeted cases to help ensure the viability of the leads and accuracy of the criminal histories. The FOSC was established in 2006 to improve the integrity of the data available on at large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives nationwide. Since its inception, the FOSC has forwarded more than 150,000 case leads to ICE enforcement personnel in the field.

ICE's Fugitive Operations Program is just one facet of the Department of Homeland Security's broader strategy to heighten the federal government's effectiveness at identifying and removing dangerous criminal aliens from the United States. Other initiatives that figure prominently in this effort are the Criminal Alien Program, Secure Communities and the agency's partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies under 287(g).

Largely as a result of these initiatives, ICE removed a total of 136,126 criminal aliens from the United States last year, a record number.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE comprises four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Monday, February 1, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1001/100129washingtondc.htm

Sweep nets immigrants with criminal charges
By: Scott McCabe
Examiner Staff Writer
February 2, 2010

Dozens of members of street gangs who were in the United States illegally were arrested in a four-day immigration operation across Virginia and the District of Columbia, officials announced Monday.

The 36 people who were rounded up were considered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be the area's illegal immigrants who pose the biggest threat to public safety or to national security.

Immigration officials vowed to send them back to their home countries, but only after some of them face criminal charges here.

"These arrests underscore ICE's commitment to focus our enforcement efforts on ridding the streets of criminals that bring violence to our neighborhoods and threaten the safety of our children," said Enrique M. Lucero, field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Washington, D.C.

Thirty-two of the 36 arrested had been convicted of crimes ranging from robbery to embezzlement to drug dealing. Some belonged to gangs, including two who were members of the Central American-based MS-13 gang and another who was a member of the Bloods street gang.

The other four arrested did not have criminal backgrounds but were immigration fugitives, people who had already been ordered to leave country by the U.S. immigration courts, officials said.

The operation was not a job-site sweep, an ICE official said. The targets were selected from a database of hundreds of thousands of fugitive aliens in the United States, and ICE's fugitive operation team worked with local law enforcement agencies to identify the most egregious criminals, officials said.

From Monday through Thursday last week, more than 20 federal agents and local law enforcement officers fanned throughout the area, visited the homes of the targets, knocked on their doors and got permission to enter the home.

There was no busting down of doors and the suspects surrendered without any incidents, ICE officials said.

Of the 36 arrested, 30 were men and six were women. They came from 16 different nations, including countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Caribbean and Africa.

Twenty lived in Northern Virginia, five in D.C., and the rest were from the Harrisonburg, Va., area.

Three of the individuals will face further federal prosecution for re-entering the country illegally after a formal deportation and for having serious criminal histories. A conviction for felony re-entry carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Those arrested with outstanding orders of removal will be immediately deported, while others will remain in ICE custody awaiting the outcome of their case.

The operation was conducted by the Washington Field Office, which covers D.C. and Virginia. Since 2007, ICE has been conducting the operation at various field offices around the country, including in California where they picked up nearly 300 criminal aliens and fugitive immigrants last December.

www.washingtonexaminer.com