http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=124&a=13 ... 3a275a05a7

June 5th, 2006
60 Filipinos Deported in ICE’s Latest Illegal Alien Bust
By Momar G. Visaya
A TOTAL of 60 Filipinos were deported back to the Philippines last week, said Consul Raphael Hermoso of the San Francisco Philippine Consulate General’s Office.

“There were over a hundred (Filipinos) arrested for various offenses but the Consulate talked with the representatives from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and we were able to whittle down the number to just 60,” Hermoso told the Asian Journal.

According to him, the offenses of the deported Filipinos ranged from “as simple as overstaying to convicted aggravated felony” and that they come from all over the continental United States. 48 of the deportees left from Seattle and 12 were picked up from Honolulu en route to the Philippines.

An official from ICE and a representative from the Consulate accompanied the deportees “to make sure that they are given due process and are well taken care of.”

The latest crackdown on illegal aliens resulted in the arrest of 179 people, many of whom have outstanding orders of deportation. More than 130 of the aliens taken into custody have already been removed from the United States.

The arrests are part of ICE's national fugitive operations initiative, an enforcement strategy targeting illegal aliens who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge and failed to comply with those orders. It is estimated there are more than 500,000 such fugitive aliens currently in the United States.

Since the deportation proceedings were in Seattle, it was the San Francisco PhilConGen’s office which coordinated with ICE. Last year, the Philippine Consulate General’s office in Los Angeles worked with ICE in deportation proceedings for Filipinos in the El Paso, Texas; San Diego, California and Arizona areas.

Majority of the illegal aliens arrested during the recent crackdown are Mexican nationals, but the group also included immigration violators from other nations - Iraq, Egypt, Peru, Samoa, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Since many of these individuals have already been through immigration proceedings, they are subject to immediate removal from the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established on March 1, 2003, as part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The 15,000 employees of ICE represent the largest investigative force within DHS. ICE enforces the nation’s federal immigration and customs laws and protects federal facilities.

Under Secure Border Initiative (SBI), Homeland Security seeks to gain operational control of both the northern and southern borders, while re-engineering the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the country quickly and efficiently.


The SBI also involves strong interior enforcement efforts, including enhanced worksite enforcement, and intensified efforts to track down and remove illegal aliens inside this country.

The National Fugitive Operations Program became operational when ICE was established in March 2003. Today, there are 38 teams nationwide and ICE expects to expand that number to 52 by the end of the year. The long-term goal of the program is to eliminate the backlog of immigration fugitives in the United States and ensure that the number of aliens deported each year equals the number of final removal orders issued by the immigration courts. (AJ)