U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested more than 150 criminal aliens in Texas during a 12-day enforcement operation. The operation targeted criminal aliens, previously deported aliens, and immigration fugitives.
Officers assigned to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 138 men and 12 women during operations conducted in multiple Texas cities in Central and South Texas. Nearly 90 percent of those arrested have criminal records that included convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual assault of a child, sexual assault, DUI, burglary, robbery, resisting an officer, cocaine possession, prostitution, fraud, simple assault, human smuggling, domestic violence, possession of dangerous drugs, and distribution of controlled substances, according to information obtained from ICE officials by Breitbart Texas.
ICE ERO officials detail some examples of the offenses committed by these criminal aliens:
- A 27- year-old woman from Mexico was arrested in Laredo March 20. She has a prior conviction for injury to a child with bodily injury. She was processed and removed to Mexico.
- A 30-year-old man from Mexico was arrested in Austin March 21. He has a prior conviction for delivery of a controlled substance (cocaine). The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting him for illegally re-entering the United States after being deported.
- A 48-year-old man from Mexico was arrested in Harlingen, Texas, March 24. He was convicted of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting him for illegally re-entering the United States after being deported.
- A 20-year-old man from Guatemala was arrested in San Antonio March 23. He was convicted of injury to a child with intent to cause bodily injury. He remains in ICE custody pending a hearing before an immigration judge.
- A 46-year-old man from Mexico was arrested in San Antonio March 31. He was convicted of the following crimes: aggravated sexual assault of a child (first degree felony), 2 DUIs and assault. He is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
“ICE’s primary immigration enforcement efforts target convicted criminal aliens,” San Antonio Field Office Director Daniel Bible said in a written statement. “Consequently, our operations improve overall public safety by removing these criminals from our streets, and ultimately from our country.”
The criminal aliens originated from Mexico (140), Honduras (7), Guatemala (3), Canada (2), and El Salvador (1). Officers arrested immigrants in the Austin-Waco corridor (24), San Antonio (62), Laredo (29), and Harlingen (38).
Of the 153 arrested criminal aliens, ICE ERO officers previously deported 33. Officials referred those 33 illegal re-entrants to the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution. Others will face deportation following immigration proceedings or immediately if they previously received a final order of removal from an immigration judge. Those being prosecuted for illegal re-entry after removal face up to 20 years in federal prison before being removed again.
ICE officers in the Pacific Northwest rounded up an additional 84 criminal aliens in a three-day operation carried out in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, Breitbart Texas reported on Monday. In February, ICE ERO officers arrested an additional 51 criminal aliens in the Texas Capital City, Austin.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.