http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 096518.htm

Posted on Sat, Jul. 22, 2006

Federal agents seize 37 in sweep

By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star

A four-day sweep across the Kansas City area this week netted 37 fugitives, immigration law violators and convicted criminals, immigration officials announced Friday.

It was a continuation of a nationwide effort last month dubbed Operation Return to Sender that caught more than 2,100 illegal immigrants across the country, according to a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Assisted by local police, customs and enforcement agents arrested 28 people in Kansas and nine in Missouri. They included a 50-year-old Mexican man who had been a fugitive since 2002, according to a spokesman for the enforcement agency.

Authorities arrested Sergio Cerros-Armengod on Monday at a Kansas City apartment. His convictions include drug possession, assault, larceny and driving under the influence of alcohol. A judge ordered his deportation in 1985, and he had been a fugitive since his appeal was dismissed in 2002, according to immigration authorities.

Cerros-Armengod was deported on a government flight to Mexico on Wednesday.

People from Cameroon, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico also were arrested. Four had criminal convictions, and 11 were fugitives from final deportation orders.


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To reach Tony Rizzo, call (816) 234-4435 or send e-mail to trizzo@kcstar.com.