ICE Conducts Massive Raids

Thousands of illegals captured in three-week nationwide sweep by immigration agents

JERSEY CITY– Ninety Five Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fugitive operations teams from all over the Unites States have arrested and detained a total of 1,311 illegal immigrants, mostly with criminal records, in what is called the biggest concerted effort yet to enforce immigration laws to violators.

The majority of the arrests were made in California with a total of 1,157, while raids conducted in Pennsylvania and Delaware turned in 78 immigration fugitives. In New Jersey, a total of 76 arrests were reported by the local Newark immigration office.

"Individuals who defy immigration court orders to leave the country need to understand there are consequences for willfully disregarding the law. ICE is committed to enforcing these outstanding deportation orders and strengthening the integrity of our nation's immigration system," said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers, who oversees ICE, in a news release.

The nationwide effort came in the wake of a turbulent US economy brought about by the crash of several financial institutions, which also caused major drops in stock market points. It also came in the final stretch of an intense presidential campaign by senators McCain and Obama, whose programs of government include comprehensive immigration reform similar to the futile immigration reform bill proposed in the Senate last year, which both senators supported.

In the Delaware/Pennsylvania raids, of the 78 illegal aliens arrested, 26 are with criminal histories. In New Jersey, 60 of the 76 arrested have criminal records. However, the biggest number of illegals with criminal links were in California, where almost a third of the total number of apprehended aliens were either convicted or charged with felonies, including child abuse, and gang-related violence. Among those arrested by the Fugitive Operations Teams was a Mexican national whose criminal history includes prior convictions for lewd acts involving a child as well as battery. Also arrested during the special enforcement operation was a previously deported 47-year-old Mexican national with a prior conviction for selling heroin.

The Fugitive Operations Program was established in 2003 to eliminate the nation's backlog of immigration fugitives.

“The deployment of more Fugitive Operations Teams, together with enhancements in our ability to track leads in these cases, have resulted in the arrest of record numbers of immigration fugitives this year and we expect that trend to continue,” said Secretary Myers.

Estimates now place the number of immigration fugitives in the United States at slightly under 560,000, a decrease of more than 34,000 since October 2007. Despite the large-scale operations, however, there were no immediate reports of Filipinos that were arrested.

While the Department of Homeland Security and ICE are celebrating, several pro-immigrant groups, including those headed by Fil-Ams denounced the government tactics and called it ‘scare’ tactics that does more harm than good.

“Families are getting broken up every day because of this. There is a more humane way to handle this problem than barraging through a family’s door and picking up people at gun point,” said Manny Cabrera of Delaware.
Source: FilipinoExpress.com