ICE detains nearly 3,000 with criminal records

During a seven-day operation targeting immigrants with criminal convictions, 56 were arrested in Miami-Dade and 41 in Broward.


BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@ElNuevoHerald.com

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday detentions nationwide of nearly 3,000 foreign nationals with criminal convictions in the largest operation of its kind since the agency was created in 2003.

According to a news release issued by the agency in Washington, the total number of arrests was 2,901 people, all with criminal records, during a seven-day operation in all 50 states. In Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, detentions totaled 272, said Marc Moore, field officer at the agency’s Miami Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations. Of the 272, 56 were arrested in Miami-Dade County, 41 in Broward, 24 in Palm Beach and one in Monroe.

It is the first time that ICE has carried out a large operation nationwide in which all those arrested have criminal convictions. According to immigration experts, the operation was aimed at convincing immigrant communities and activists that policy has changed — and that from now on priority will be given to detaining and deporting only criminals and not undocumented immigrants without criminal records.

Last month, two high-ranking Obama administration officials promised that undocumented immigrants discovered by local police or ICE agents in cities and suburbs would be considered “low-priorityâ€