Immigration Officials Arrest Immigrants Who Re-entered Illegally After Being Deported

By Elizabeth Llorente
Published February 03, 2011

Immigration agents arrested 31 illegal immigrants in a weeklong operation in New Jersey. Most had been deported previously, and re-entered the United States illegally.

Dozens of unauthorized immigrants – most of them people who illegally re-entered the United States after having been deported -- are in detention in New Jersey following a week-long sweep by immigration agents.

Immigration officials said Thursday that they arrested 31 people in the sweep; 28 were formerly deported and re-entered the country illegally, which is a criminal offense. Three had immigration violations, which is a civil matter.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officials said that 16 of the 28 who re-entered had prior criminal convictions. The convictions, officials said, included such things as assault, distribution of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet from a school zone, and weapons possession.

“ICE is focused on sensible, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes efforts first on those dangerous criminal aliens and other immigration violators who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities,â€