U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested 244 individuals who pose a threat to public safety, according to an announcement Monday.
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Undocumented criminal immigrants are coming under increasing pressure for deportation. Most of the arrests, 99, were in Los Angeles County, with 55 in Oragne County, 43 in San Bernardino County, 24 in Riverside County, 20 in Santa Barbara County and 3 in San Luis Obispo County.
According to ICE, 191 of those arrested were originally from Mexico; there were also immigrants from Peru, Thailand, France, Ghana and many more countries from all over the globe.
David Jennings, field office director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, issued a press release praising the agency’s commitment to removing criminals from American streets.
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice told the LA Times that didn’t mean illegal immigrants were committing more crimes, just that they’re harder to find.
Each of the targets in last week’s operation meets one of the Department of Homeland Security’s top two tiers for immigration enforcement priority.
In a recent operation documented in a separate Los Angeles Times piece, author Kate Linthicum noted that ICE agents with guns and black Kevlar vests took in Hugo Medina, a 32-year-old immigrant who had a DUI conviction from 2010, petty theft conviction in 2014, and a drug possession from earlier this year, at his house. Followed on the list are people who have three or more misdemeanor convictions, or who have been convicted for significant misdemeanors, such as driving under the influence. As a result, ICE officials say they have to rely on costly and risky manhunts or multiday sweeps like the one conducted last week.
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All 244 had criminal convictions. Those who have deportations orders in place and those who re-entered the country after being deported will be immediately removed, while the rest will have the opportunity to plead their case before a judge. One detainee, Vincente Onofre-Ramirez, was convicted in 2002 in New York for sexual abuse with force. The agency would contact local jails and ask that such inmates be held until an ICE van could pick them up. “The remaining individuals are in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge, or pending travel arrangements for removal in the near future”, said ICE in a written statement.
