41 criminals apprehended in immigration investigation

Dallas: ICE's Operation Cross Check nets 148 total arrests this week


12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 28, 2007
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dallasnews.com

Federal agents in Dallas have arrested 41 criminal illegal immigrants, including a child predator, this week as part of a new national initiative called Operation Cross Check.

An additional 107 illegal immigrants, including seven juveniles, were apprehended as part of the targeted investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, agency officials said Friday.

ICE's fugitive operations team, put together last year in Dallas, made the arrests, said Nuria Prendes, field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal. "Our fugitive operations teams are out there," Ms. Prendes said. "We are aggressively working the Dallas-Fort Worth area."

Those arrested included illegal immigrants from Argentina and Zambia. But the bulk – 118 – were from Mexico, ICE officials said.

Of the 148 people arrested, 84 have been returned to Mexico by bus at the land port of Nuevo Laredo, ICE officials said. Ms. Prendes said those deported would face felony charges if they attempted to re-enter.

The action follows criticism a year ago from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General over what it characterized as a "mini-amnesty" because of a lack of deportation oversight after the prison and jail release of illegal immigrants. The report cites a lack of resources within ICE's Office of Detention and Removal.

Ms. Prendes acknowledged that illegal immigrants were released from prisons and jails without sufficient notice to ICE or ICE oversight.

"Sometimes, they may be [legal] resident aliens in jail, and since they are not convicted yet, they are not deportable," she said.

Among those arrested was Jose Aleman, a Salvadoran convicted of indecency with a child and sexual conduct in Dallas, ICE officials said. Mr. Aleman is awaiting deportation, according to a federal immigration judge's order.

Crimes committed by others arrested in Operation Cross Check include weapons offenses, vehicle theft, assault, burglary, family violence and possessing a controlled substance.

Last fiscal year, the Dallas-based ICE office removed 7,000 illegal immigrants, and 5,500 had criminal convictions.

In addition to Operation Cross Check, other initiatives conducted by ICE fugitive operations teams have been the controversial Operation Return to Sender, which focuses on removing fugitive illegal immigrants who have ignored deportation orders. ICE agents have been criticized for the operation's predawn arrests at homes in cities as diverse as Irving, the California farm town of Mendota, and Chicago.

According to the 2006 inspector general report, about two-thirds of illegal immigrants released will eventually be issued final orders of removal by federal officials and later fail to surrender for removal. As of Dec. 30, 2005, more than 544,000 people with final orders of removal absconded, the report said.