110 migrants arrested across Florida

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 110 immigration fugitives and immigration violators after a five-day targeted enforcement operation last week in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, as well as Orlando and Tampa.

Officers arrested 81 immigration fugitives who went into hiding after being ordered to leave the country and 29 other immigration violators. The operation netted 47 arrests in Miami-Dade, 30 in Broward, 15 in Palm Beach, 11 in Tampa and seven in Orlando.

''ICE will continue to arrest and deport aliens who have ignored an immigration judge's order to leave the country,'' said Michael Rozos, field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Florida.

''While we are a welcoming country, we expect those wanting to immigrate here to do so in a safe, legal and orderly manner,'' Rozos said.

Of the 110 arrested, 93 remain in ICE custody and 17 were processed for removal and released. In the case of those released, ICE officials say they released migrants who were verified to be sole caregivers or as having medical concerns.

Officials say those arrested during the operation come from countries around the globe, including Guatemala, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Moldova, Cuba, Bahamas, Nicaragua, Peru, Poland, Jamaica, Bangladesh, Mexico, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Gambia.

Of the arrested, 24 had criminal records that included aggravated assault, battery, drug possession, trespassing, disorderly conduct, resisting an officer with violence, sexual battery, Social Security fraud, burglary, carrying a concealed firearm, larceny, grand theft and lewd and lascivious assault on a child.

ICE officials cited two examples of arrests made in South Florida:

• Carmen Rosa Milian, 59, a citizen of Peru, was arrested on Dec. 16 in Miami-Dade County during the ICE operation that ended Friday.

Milian entered the United States on July 6, 1994. In August 2002, she was convicted in Miami-Dade for possession of cocaine. She was ordered deported by an immigration judge.

• Kerby Nelson, 46, a citizen of Haiti, was also arrested on Dec. 16 in Broward County. He entered the United States on Jan. 5, 1981, and in May 1986, he was convicted in Deerfield Beach of possession of cocaine and sentenced to 18 months' probation.

He was ordered deported on Jan. 25, 2005.

''We will conduct these targeted fugitive operations to ensure that removal orders are carried out and locate these immigration violators who potentially pose a threat to public safety,'' Rozos said.

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