HOUSTON, Texas — A targeted immigration enforcement action landed nearly 100 criminal aliens in jail during a four-day operation carried out in the Texas Gulf Coast region. The roundup led to the arrest of criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives in eight counties between Houston and Victoria.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers assigned to the Houston Area of Responsibility (AOR) carried out a four-day enforcement action that ended on April 21, information obtained by Breitbart Texas uncovered. Officers arrested 95 illegal aliens, 82 of which had criminal histories that include homicide, aggravated assault, assault, burglary of a vehicle, child abuse, domestic violence, cocaine possession, fraud, driving under the influence (DUI), drug trafficking, felony marijuana possession, illegal entry, larceny, possessing a controlled substance, and weapons possession.
Officers picked up the remaining immigrants for illegally being present in the U.S. after removal and those with previous orders of removal from an immigration judge who did not leave the country.
The Houston AOR covers 54 counties located in southeastern Texas. The enforcement action resulted in the arrests of criminal aliens in Brazoria (7), Ft. Bend (2), Galveston (4), Harris (59), Liberty (3), Matagorda (4), Montgomery (13), and Wharton (3) Counties. The officers arrested 87 men and eight women.
The aliens originated from countries around the globe including: Cambodia (1), Cuba (1), El Salvador (8), Guatemala (3), Honduras (11), Mexico (66), Nicaragua (2), Nigeria (1) and Vietnam (2).
“This operation was focused on fugitives and criminal aliens,” ICE ERO Houston Field Office Director Patrick Contreras said in a written statement. “Public safety remains a top priory for ICE. This was a focused four-day operation, but our routine operations occur daily.”
ICE officials listed a sampling of the criminal histories of those arrested in the operation. These include:
- April 20, a 55-year-old citizen of El Salvador was arrested without incident in Houston. Convicted of manslaughter. Previously deported from the United States in April 1987.
- April 19, a 32-year-old citizen of Mexico was arrested without incident in Houston. A Barrio North Side gang member with convictions for marijuana possession, unlawfully carrying a firearm and evading arrest. He was previously removed from the United States in September 2006.
- April 21, a 44-year-old citizen of Mexico was arrested near his residence in Houston by Houston Fugitive Operations Team members. Moreno has criminal convictions for illegally carrying a weapon, vehicle theft, aggravated robbery and robbery.
- April 19, a 68-year-old citizen and national of Cuba, was arrested at his residence in Houston. Was previously convicted twice for robbery and twice for burglary of habitation.
- April 18, a 25-year-old citizen and national of Mexico was arrested without incident in Houston. He has a criminal conviction for indecency with a child by exposure.
ICE ERO officers conducted similar operations in other Texas AORs in recent months. Those include the roundup of more than 150 criminal aliens in the San Antonio AOR during a 12-day operation earlier this month, Breitbart Texas reported. During that same timeframe, ICE ERO officers arrested 75 criminal aliens in the Dallas AOR during a three-day operation.
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.