March 7, 2007, 5:47PM
Feds say 15 violent illegal immigrants arrested


© 2007 The Associated Press

HARLINGEN, Texas — A multi-agency task force in a three-county sweep Wednesday arrested 15 illegal immigrants with rap sheets for violent crimes, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

They were all being processed for immigration violations and would be deported, with the exception of one who may first serve U.S. jail time, ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said.

The arrests were conducted without incident in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr counties following investigation by ICE's Rio Grande Valley Border Enforcement Security Task Force.

Pruneda said those arrested were all Mexicans with prior felony convictions on offenses including aggravated assault of a child, murder, criminal possession of a weapon, drug trafficking and sex crimes.

The RGV BEST team, based Harlingen, was modeled after a similar task force in Laredo. It is a collaboration of federal and local agencies.

"We are determined to make our communities safer for everyone," said Jerry Robinette, special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in San Antonio. "Taking known criminals off our streets goes a long way to that goal. In the case of criminal aliens, we can also remove them from the country."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4610898.html