Two dozen arrested in immigration crackdown

Posted: Friday, July 22, 2016 6:00 am Amanda Stewart


Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers recently arrested 24 convicted criminals illegally in the United States during a five-day operation in Northern Virginia and Washington D.C., ICE officials announced in a news release Thursday.

ICE officials said the department’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team arrested the 24 men during between July 10 and 14 in Fairfax, Woodbridge, Manassas, Falls Church, Annandale, Winchester, Sterling, Herndon, Springfield and Washington, D.C.

Those arrested were citizens or nationals of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ghana, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico and Panama who had been convicted of crimes including rape of a minor, child abuse/neglect, grand larceny or drug distribution, according to the news release.

The arrestees with outstanding deportation orders or who illegally returned to the United States after big deported “are subject to immediate removal from the country,” ICE officials said. The others are in ICE custody awaiting immigration hearings.

Federal privacy laws prohibit ICE officials from releasing the names of those arrested because they were arrested on administrative immigration charges, not criminal charges, said Carissa F. Cutrell, a spokeswoman for ICE.

“The men we arrested were all convicted criminals who preyed on others through theft, assault, and in one case, rape,” Yvonne Evans, field office director for ERO Washington, D.C. said in a statement. “The D.C.-metro area is now safer because these individuals are in our custody and off the streets.”

Two dozen arrested in immigration crackdown