ICE agents target "criminal aliens" across the Valley
by Sergio Chapa

Posted: 09.19.2014 at 12:43 AM




The day starts pretty early for Enrique Lucero and his team of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

They're part of agency's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Team.
Before the sun comes up, the ICE field office director is already in search of four wanted men who they identify as “criminal aliens.”

The men have all been convicted of crimes and deported but returned to the United States illegally.

"Everyone is targeted, so we're looking for specific individuals,” Lucero said. “We've done surveillance on them. We kinda know their patterns... when they're leaving... when they're going to work... where they live."

Lucero oversees six ERO teams from his office in San Antonio. Two of those teams are in the Rio Grande Valley.

Their first target of the day was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico with previous deportations and a conviction for possession of marijuana.

The team received word that he was living at a home off Viejo Drive near the Donna landfill.

But once at the home, the armed team learns from family members that the man has since moved to Laredo.

The agents leave empty handed but Lucero said his men will continue to search for the immigrant.

Busted At Work
The team moves on to their second target who’s just getting to work at the R&R Auto Parts salvage yard off Expressway 83 and Val Verde Road.

The man is also from Mexico and also has previous deportations and a conviction for marijuana.

Rush hour traffic zooms by as ERO team members approach the man right as he’s getting out of his SUV.

"They positively identified the target they're looking for,” Lucero said. “They asked him his name. That's him. Now, they placed under arrest."

The man is allowed to call family members on his cell phone but is whisked away inside a secured van immediately after.

South Donna
Their third suspect is believed to be living at an apartment off South Olivarez Street right across town.

While the man is not at his apartment, Lucero says they are not ready to give up the search.

"We're following leads… always asking neighbors... always following up... and my officers will continue to pursue this target until he's arrested,” Lucero promised.

That promise is likely to be fulfilled.

ICE agents with the ERO team constantly receive tips from local police about convicted criminals who are deported but who officers see back on the streets.
The agents also received tips from concerned citizens in addition to mining electronic records such as vehicle registrations.

Alamo
As the team heads towards they fourth target, they get a tip from a confidential informant about another fugitive.

"He's been deported numerous times,” Lucero said. “He's a Mexican national, approximately 40 years of age and convicted of possession of a controlled substance... cocaine specifically."

Agents found the man living in a trailer placed in his family’s backyard off Quail Street in Alamo.

The trailer had no plumbing and an used extension cord as the only source of electricity with an outhouse was being used as a restroom.

ICE agents allow the man to speak to his father before leading him away.

Little Mexico
The team then moves to the gang-riddled Little Mexico neighborhood just south of Alamo where an undercover agent set up a sting operation.

Their target is an illegal immigrant who spent prison time for aggravated assault and was deported but returned to the United States illegally.

Lucero said the man was convicted for threatening his wife with a knife.

The man works as a mechanic, so the undercover agent set up a parking lot meeting a nearby “panadería” where the man thinks he’s there to look at a car.

It was a busy morning at the bakery where the parking lot was filled with cars and customers while a Budweiser 18-wheeler was there to make a delivery.

Agents arrest the man and another illegal immigrant who rode with him there.
"Each situation is unique,” Lucero explained. “Sometimes we arrest people at their places of employment. Sometimes in areas like this. Sometimes at their residence. It all just depends."

Processing
Once the round up is complete, the men are taken to ICE's facility in Harlingen.

That’s where they are fingerprinted, photographed and their identities run through a series of records checks, which often pick up a surprising list of crimes.

“For sexual assault, for aggravated assault, for rape.. things like that,” Lucero said. “So when we take these people out of the community that have re-entered the united states, we're making these communities safer just by removing them out of their presence."

These cases are forwarded for prosecution in federal court by agent’s with ICE’s Violent Criminal Alien Section (VCAS) unit.

If convicted, those immigrants could face up to 20 years in federal prison followed by deportation.

Deportation
Action 4 News cameras were also rolling as two illegal immigrants were deported back to Mexico.

Both men had been convicted of crimes in the United States, served their sentences and we were ordered for deportation.

Lucero says it's not wise for illegal immigrants to try to come back.

"Don't come back through South Texas,” Lucero warned illegal immigrants. “We will seek you out. We will arrest you and we will prosecute you and ultimately, we will deport you."

Record Numbers
According to figures from ICE, agents are getting 95 percent conviction rates for their illegal immigration cases.

The agency reports 1,181 convictions in the Valley so far in Fiscal Year 2014 alone.
ICE's Harlingen office is part of their regional office in San Antonio, which leads the United States in apprehensions and deportations.

Some 110,000 illegal immigrants are expected to deported from an area which includes Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Del Rio, Laredo and the Valley.

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