Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week that it arrested 140 criminal aliens throughout six Midwest states during a five-day enforcement surge.
According to a press release, the arrests were made in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Five of those arrested were women, while the remaining 135 were male. The vast majority (92) were from Mexico, while another 26 were from Guatemala.
ICE reports that almost a third of those arrested during the surge had prior criminal histories that included assault, battery, domestic violence, driving under the influence, drug trafficking, identity theft, hit and run, illegal re-entry after deportation, and more.
One criminal alien arrested during the surge, a 38-year-old Honduran male, had two prior DUI convictions, a hit-and-run conviction, and was ordered to be removed from the country by a judge in 2017.
“This surge targeted criminal aliens, public safety threats, and individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” said Louie Zamora, acting field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Chicago.
“Our ICE officers provide a valuable public service by removing criminal aliens who pose a threat to their own immigration communities,” he added. “They also enforce U.S. immigration laws by carrying out the orders of federal immigration judges.”
Twenty of those arrested by ICE during the surge had illegally reentered the country after being deported, which is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
During a wide-ranging phone interview on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, President Donald Trump announced that he’s named former acting ICE Director Thomas Homan as “border czar.”
“Tom Homan’s coming back. He’s going to be very much involved with the border,” Trump said. “He’ll be reporting directly to me. He’ll probably be working out of the White House but spending a lot of time at the border.”
Trump’s full interview can be watched below:
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
