ICE Arrests Wanted Criminal Suspects, Venezuelan Gang Members

Images of Venezuelan national Javier Irazabal-Rodriguez (L) and Palm Beach County illegal aliens (R) being arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE

Multiple gang members and illegal aliens were apprehended by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities in recent days amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown against illegal immigration.

On Jan. 28, ICE officials arrested three Venezuelan illegal immigrants from El Paso, Texas, according to a Feb. 3 statement from the agency.

This included two active associates of the Tren de Aragua gang—Jhonatan Johan Romero-Pineda, 34, and Uzcategui-Uzcategui, 27. Both remain in ICE custody pending removal.

Originating as a prison gang in Aragua, Venezuela, Tren de Aragua is known to engage in human smuggling and other illicit activities targeting migrants transnationally, according to the U.S. Treasury.

In July, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Tren de Aragua as a Transnational Criminal Organization. The gang takes part in “illegal mining, kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, and the trafficking of illicit drugs such as cocaine and MDMA.”

The third arrested Venezuelan, 27-year-old Javier Irazabal-Rodriguez, was convicted last May of sexually assaulting a child and was sentenced to 10 years of probation. ICE released him on an order of supervision this past week after his latest arrest.

On Feb. 3, ICE also announced the arrest of nearly three dozen illegal immigrants with criminal convictions including prostitution, robbery, drug possession, fraud for illegal use of a credit card, cocaine possession, larceny, and possession of stolen property.

Meanwhile, in Florida, ICE officers and agents in Miami, in coordination with the U.S. Border Patrol, “conducted targeted immigration enforcement operations in Palm Beach County from January 27 to 28,” the agency said.

“The operation netted 32 illegal aliens from Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Cuba, and Nicaragua. All illegal aliens arrested during this operation will be detained pending their removal from the United States or a hearing before an immigration judge.”

On Jan. 25, ICE Philadelphia removed a Mexican citizen from the United States, sending him back to Mexico where he is wanted on rape charges.

On Jan. 31, ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested a 27-year-old Mexican national who is illegally in America and is wanted in his home nation for aggravated homicide.

“The message is clear, you can’t commit heinous crimes in your country and hide out in ours,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Denver Field Office Director Robert Guadian.

Since the Trump administration assumed office last month, ICE has arrested hundreds of illegal aliens in targeted operations, which it says involves the “planned arrests of known criminal aliens who threaten national security or public safety.”

Crackdown on Illegal Aliens

Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said on Sunday that there has been a massive drop in the number of border encounters and crossings along America’s southern border.

“We’ve got the numbers this morning. The crossings on the border are down 93 percent,” Homan said. “That’s a bigger decrease than under the first Trump administration.”

The dip follows multiple executive orders issued by Trump to counter illegal immigration and secure America’s borders.

“He clearly understands we can’t have strong national security if we don’t have border security,” said the border czar. “We need to know who’s coming in, what’s coming in, where, and why.”

According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the southwest land border had over 2 million encounters every fiscal year between 2022 and 2024 under the Biden administration.

Democrats have largely opposed the Trump administration’s actions against illegal immigration. Late last month, Ed Gainey, the mayor of Pittsburgh, said his administration will not cooperate with the federal crackdown on illegal immigrants initiated by ICE.

“My administration will not work with ICE,” Gainey said. “We will do whatever is necessary to make our city more welcoming.”

“ICE is not going to end the situation of a failed immigration policy. It’s not going to do it,” said the mayor. “What it is going to do is create more situations where people feel scared, where people don’t feel safe, where people do things they normally wouldn’t do.”

In Los Angeles, a large group of people blocked traffic on the 101 Freeway on Sunday, protesting illegal immigration enforcement.

The protest took place even though the Los Angeles Police Department did not grant permission for the demonstration. Footage showed protesters spraying graffiti on freeway walls and appearing to vandalize a vehicle. Some of the protesters held flags of other nations.

Meanwhile, Trump’s push for countries to take back their nationals illegally residing in the United States is showing results.

“Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” the president wrote in a Feb. 1 Truth Social post. “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back.”

On Jan. 26, Trump said that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on all imports from Colombia after its government turned away U.S. military flights carrying illegal immigrants deported to the South American nation. Shortly after that, the Colombian government said it was willing to comply with Washington’s demand and accept the deported citizens.