Man arrested in G.I. as part of national illegal immigration operation


By Sarah Schulz

Published: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 10:12 PM CDT

sarah.schulz@theindependent.com

One man was arrested in Grand Island as part of a seven-day national Cross Check enforcement operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Jose Garcia-Gonzalez, 43, of Mexico was arrested at his place of employment in Grand Island. He had previously been convicted of attempted drug possession and felony child abuse.

Garcia-Gonzalez's criminal history includes arrests and/or convictions for theft in 1990 and 1994, evading arrest in 1994, drugs in 2002, driving under the influence and child abuse in 2002, and writing bad checks and driving under the influence in 2006.

Nationwide, 2,901 convicted criminal illegal immigrants were arrested in all 50 states and four territories.

This operation involved the collaboration of more than 1,900 ICE officers and agents from all of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations' 24 field offices, as well as coordination with federal, state and local law enforcement partners throughout the United States, according to a press release from ICE.

"The criminal aliens we targeted in this operation are not the people we want in our communities," said Scott Baniecke, director of the field office in Bloomington, Minn., that covers Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas. "Arresting fugitives and criminal aliens remains an ICE priority to help make our communities safer."

In Nebraska, there were 19 arrests, six in Omaha and five in Lincoln, two in York and one each in Grand Island, Columbus, Dakota City, Gibbon, Papillion and Wahoo.

All of the individuals taken into custody had prior criminal convictions, including at least 1,282 who had multiple criminal convictions. More than 1,600 of those arrested had felony convictions including manslaughter, attempted murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, drug trafficking, child abuse, sexual crimes against minors and aggravated assault. Forty-two of the people arrested were gang members, and 151 were convicted sex offenders, according to the press release.

In addition to being convicted criminals, 681 of those arrested were also immigration fugitives who had previously been ordered to leave the country but failed to leave. Additionally, 386 were illegal re-entrants who had been previously removed from the country multiple times. Because of their serious criminal histories and prior immigration arrest records, at least 146 of those arrested during the enforcement action were presented to U.S. attorneys for prosecution on a variety of charges, including illegal re-entry after deportation, a felony that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, according to the press release.

The enforcement action was led by ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program, which is responsible for locating, arresting and removing at-large criminal illegal immigrants and immigration fugitives.

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