Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 2,000 illegal aliens, the vast majority of whom are criminals, during a five-week long operation.
All of the illegal aliens are eligible for deportation, ICE reported.
“The aliens targeted during this operation preyed on men, women and children in our communities, committing serious crimes and, at times, repeatedly hurting their victims,” said Senior Official Performing the Duties of the ICE Director Tony H. Pham.
ICE arrested 1,089 illegal aliens with criminal convictions in the operation that ran from July 13 to Aug. 20.
Nearly 85% of those arrested in the sting, which took place from July 13 to Aug. 20, had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, according to the agency.
“By focusing our efforts on perpetrators of crimes against people, we’re able to remove these threats from our communities and prevent future victimization from occurring,” Pham said.
“Through our targeted enforcement efforts, we are eliminating the threat posed by these criminals, many of whom are repeat offenders,” he added.
Some of the charges against those arrested included 770 cases of assault, 500 domestic violence cases, 140 sex offenses, 200 family offenses, and 25 homicides.
There were also 110 sex offenses involving a minor, 75 harassment cases, 35 hit-and-run cases, and 30 robberies.
Most had also entered the country illegally.
Those arrested who did not have violent criminal histories were arrested because they had been deported by an immigration judge but did not leave, or they reentered the U.S. illegally after being deported, according to Henry Lucero, executive associate director of ICE.
As part of the operation, ICE agents made “at-large” arrests, according to CBS News, which took place at places of residence, worksites, and even traffic stops. Most the arrests took place in the Los Angeles area, according to the agency.
ICE had said earlier this year that it would be scaling back its operations due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the agency “never said we were going to stop arresting individuals,” Lucero clarified.
“We said we were going to prioritize and focus on those that are public safety threats,” he continued. “And that’s exactly what we did during this operation.”
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations last year arrested more than 1,900 illegal aliens with convictions or charges for homicide, 1,800 for kidnapping, 12,000 for sexual offense, 5,000 for sexual assault, 45,000 for assault, 67,000 for drug crimes, 10,000 for weapons offenses, and 74,000 for driving under the influence.
Headline USA’s Joshua Paladino contributed to this report.
