A six-day long raid of states across the West netted U.S. immigration officials 235 convicted criminal illegal aliens, officials reported on Wednesday.
Officers with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that their goal was to apprehend “potentially deportable criminals” with previous convictions on such charges as child sex offenses, drug charges, and other crimes.
The sweep covered the states of Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana.
By far, the most offenders were found in Utah, with 111 criminal illegal immigrants arrested. Nevada was next with 89 arrests, Idaho found 34 arrests, and Montana just one.
Those arrested came from a list of nations including 29 from Mexico, 2 from Guatemala, 1 from the Philippines, 1 from Peru, and 1 from El Salvador.
“ICE’s immigration enforcement efforts are focused on apprehending and removing convicted criminals and individuals who pose a threat to public safety,” Daniel Bible, the director of Enforcement and Removal Operations in Salt Lake City, said in a statement to the press. “Owing to the tireless efforts and teamwork of ICE officers – aided by our federal, state and local partners – there are 111 fewer criminals on the streets of our communities in Utah.”
ICE officials said that the 235 are being processed for deportation.
Officials also reported that seeking illegal immigrants with gang ties was a top priority for targets during the sweep.
But many of the illegal immigrants apprehended were guilty of a long list of sexual assaults including rape, child molestation, harassment, exploiting a minor, prostitution, and other crimes.
Despite this raid and other recent raids like it, though, the Obama administration recently announced that it was reducing the number of deportations to its lowest level in years.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.