Thread: ICE arrests 45 during enforcement operation targeting convicted criminal aliens

ICE arrests 45 during enforcement operation targeting convicted criminal aliens in Connecticut and Massachusetts

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent this bulletin at 02/29/2012 05:31 PM EST

HARTFORD, Conn. — During a four-day targeted enforcement operation in Connecticut and Massachusetts that ended Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested 44 convicted criminal aliens. An additional individual was arrested who had two outstanding arrest warrants in New York and Texas. Of the 45 arrested, 40 were arrested in Connecticut and five were arrested in Massachusetts.

Operation Threats Against the Community commenced Feb. 24. Forty-four of the individuals taken into custody had prior criminal convictions, including 18 aliens who had multiple criminal convictions. Additionally, 24 of those arrested had felony convictions. Many of these criminal aliens had prior convictions for serious or violent crimes, such as indecent assault and battery of a child, sexual assault, possessing and selling dangerous drugs, drunken driving and larceny charges.

"The results of this targeted enforcement operation underscore ERO's ongoing commitment to public safety," said ERO Boston Field Office Director Dorothy Herrera-Niles, who oversees ERO throughout New England. "Because of the tireless efforts and teamwork of ERO officers — along with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners — there are fewer criminal aliens in our neighborhoods."

The 45 arrests took place in the following locations:

Connecticut:
•Bridgeport
•Danbury
•Darien
•Derby
•East Hartford
•Hamden
•Hartford
•Meriden
•Naugatuck
•New Britain
•New Haven
•New London
•Shelton
•Stamford
•Stratford
•Trumbull
•Waterbury
•Willimantic

Massachusetts:
•Holyoke
•Longmeadow
•Pittsfield
•Springfield

Numerous federal, state and local law enforcement agencies throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts assisted ERO with these arrests.

Of those arrested, there were 38 men and seven women who are nationals of the following countries: one from Bosnia, two from Brazil, one from Canada, one from Colombia, five from the Dominican Republic, one from El Salvador, one from England, one from Guatemala, one from Guyana, one from Haiti, one from Honduras, 17 from Jamaica, two from Mexico, one from Montserrat, two from Peru, one from the Philippines, three from Poland, one from Portugal, one from Russia and one from Tanzania. They range in ages from 21 to 57.

Forty-four of the 45 individuals were arrested administratively for being in violation of immigration law, and all are being held in ERO custody pending immigration removal proceedings. The individual with an outstanding warrant for their arrest will be turned over to the New York State Police via the extradition process.

Some of those arrested during this operation include:

• A national of the Dominican Republic who was convicted of the following crimes: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, gaming, smuggling of U.S. currency, knowingly receiving stolen property and malicious destruction of property.

• A national of El Salvador who was convicted of the following crimes: assault and battery of a minor and failing to register as a sex offender.

• A national of Jamaica who was convicted of the following crimes: carrying a weapon without a permit, risk of injury to a minor, eight counts of the illegal discharge of a firearm and three counts of assault on a police officer.

• A national of Haiti who was convicted of the following crimes: assault in the second degree, two convictions for assault in the third degree, sale of illegal narcotics and resisting arrest.

• A national of Canada who was convicted of indecent assault and battery of a minor.

• A national of Jamaica who was convicted of the following crimes: assault, sale and possession of controlled substances.

"This operation is one of the many tools that ERO uses to effectively reduce crime at the street level in communities throughout New England," added Herrera-Niles.

In November 2011, ERO Boston conducted a similar enforcement operation that yielded 53 arrests of convicted criminal aliens in Massachusetts.

This enforcement action was spearheaded by ERO's Criminal Alien Program, which is responsible for locating, arresting and removing at-large criminal aliens. The officers who conducted the operation received substantial assistance from ERO's Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) located in Williston, Vt.

ERO is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that targets serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, such as those charged with or convicted of homicide, rape, robbery, kidnapping, major drug offenses and threats to national security. ERO also prioritizes the arrest and removal of those who game the immigration system including immigration fugitives or those criminal aliens who have been previously deported and illegally re-entered the country.

Largely as a result of these initiatives, for three years in a row, ERO has removed more aliens than were removed in fiscal year 2008. Overall, in FY 2011 ERO removed 396,906 individuals nationwide — the largest number in the agency's history.

Of these, nearly 55 percent or 216,698 of the people removed, were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors — an 89 percent increase in the removal of criminals since FY 2008. This includes 1,119 aliens convicted of homicide; 5,848 aliens convicted of sexual offenses; 44,653 aliens convicted of drug related crimes; and 35,927 aliens convicted of driving under the influence. ERO achieved similar results with regard to other categories prioritized for removal. Ninety percent of all ERO's removals fell into a priority category and more than two-thirds of the other removals in 2011 were either recent border crossers or repeat immigration violators.

http://content.govdelivery.com/bulle...SDHSICE-30dae9

RELATED

2/20/2012

http://www.alipac.us/f12/connecticut...nities-251239/

While this IS Wonderful News..STILL remains a HUGE problem, ICE and Local Authorities DON'T pursue a Criminal Unless they have already gotton a "Previous Conviction"..Why is that a problem?? Well, Think HOW MANY VICTIMS these Illegals Rack up, BEFORE they get caught and convicted!

In my case, The Illegals who Stole my 5yr olds Identity & Violently threatened the lives of my family, HAVE INDEED been Turned in to ICE and the Police and the Court...Yet are FREE, because no "previous conviction" was found...

So they can CONTINUE doing this to as many Americans as they wish, until one day, hopefully they get caught and Convicted...and NO, an ARREST, Does NOT mean Convicted, They get Released!!, as happened in my case...So now there is a "police record"...but, not a conviction!

Who is next? Only time will tell

These illegal aliens are CONVICTED CRIMINALS and will be deported.
That's why they went out and found them.

ICE arrests 45 during enforcement operation targeting convicted criminal aliens in Connecticut and Massachusetts

ICE Strikes Again

by Staff | Feb 29, 2012 6:08 pm

Two New Haven immigrants have been locked up as part of a regional sweep of convicted criminals who’ve violated immigration law, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday.

ICE arrested 40 people in Connecticut and five in Massachusetts between Friday and Monday, according to ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein.

It was the second time in five years that ICE has conducted a sweep of immigrants after clashing with local officials over immigration policy.

All just a coincidence, according to ICE.

Forty-four of the arrestees in the latest statewide sweep had been previously convicted of a state or federal crime were living in the U.S. without legal permission, according to a press release ICE sent Wednesday evening. They were arrested administratively for violating immigration law. The remaining arrestee had two outstanding arrest warrants in New York and Texas.

Feinstein did not have details on the nature of the New Haveners’ arrests. He said ICE would not release their names, because the arrests are administrative. They will be held at an ICE detention facility pending removal proceedings before an immigration judge, he said.

City officials and neighborhood activists contacted Wednesday said they had no information.

The arrests were attributed not to Secure Communities, the ICE initiative that launched last week over outcry from New Haven immigrant activists and the mayor. Rather, Feinstein said they came as part of an “ongoing effort” of ICE’s “Criminal Alien Program.”

The program “targets serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, such as those charged with or convicted of homicide, rape, robbery, kidnapping, major drug offenses and threats to national security,” according to ICE’s release.

According to the release: “Forty-four of the individuals taken into custody had prior criminal convictions, including 18 aliens who had multiple criminal convictions. Additionally, 24 of those arrested had felony convictions. Many of these criminal aliens had prior convictions for serious or violent crimes, such as indecent assault and battery of a child, sexual assault, possessing and selling dangerous drugs, drunken driving and larceny charges.”

ICE gave the following description of the arrestees: “there were 38 men and seven women who are nationals of the following countries: one from Bosnia, two from Brazil, one from Canada, one from Colombia, five from the Dominican Republic, one from El Salvador, one from England, one from Guatemala, one from Guyana, one from Haiti, one from Honduras, 17 from Jamaica, two from Mexico, one from Montserrat, two from Peru, one from the Philippines, three from Poland, one from Portugal, one from Russia and one from Tanzania. They range in ages from 21 to 57.”

Tensions have developed between ICE officials and the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy over the past two weeks over the rollout of Secure Communities. The Malloy administration has expressed skepticism over whether the program would target truly dangerous criminals.

Wednesday evening, Malloy’s point person on the issue, Michael Lawlor, was taking a wait-and-see posture on the latest sweep.

“The governor’s position has been very clear: Immigration officials should be identifying serious criminals, like terrorists, and deporting them. If that’s what’s happening here, everyone would applaud them,” said Lawlor, the governor’s undersecretary for criminal justice.

He was asked if he thinks that’s in fact what happened here.

“We’ll find out,” he said.

New Haven’s mayor and police chief have also been openly critical of the Safe Communities roll-out. They held a press conference last week blasting the program.

In June 2007, the mayor drew ICE’s ire when the city approved an immigrant-friendly ID card program aimed at helping immigrants integrate into the community and avoid becoming crime victims. Within a day and a half of the program’s approval, ICE swept through the Fair Haven neighborhood rounding up 31 Latinos allegedly here illegally. Subsequently released emails revealed the agency’s animus toward New Haven’s efforts.

ICE Strikes Again | New Haven Independent

Originally Posted by ShawnX5

While this IS Wonderful News..STILL remains a HUGE problem, ICE and Local Authorities DON'T pursue a Criminal Unless they have already gotton a "Previous Conviction"..Why is that a problem?? Well, Think HOW MANY VICTIMS these Illegals Rack up, BEFORE they get caught and convicted!

In my case, The Illegals who Stole my 5yr olds Identity & Violently threatened the lives of my family, HAVE INDEED been Turned in to ICE and the Police and the Court...Yet are FREE, because no "previous conviction" was found...

So they can CONTINUE doing this to as many Americans as they wish, until one day, hopefully they get caught and Convicted...and NO, an ARREST, Does NOT mean Convicted, They get Released!!, as happened in my case...So now there is a "police record"...but, not a conviction!

Who is next? Only time will tell

Thank you for sharing your story. I am so sorry. Sorry for what happened to you and your family and sorry as an American citizen that our government and country has let you down. If you were an Illegal Immigrant activist groups would be marching in the streets protesting and demanding justice. American citizens are victims every day of crimes and injustices committed by Illegal Immigrants only to have it shoved under the rug.