ICE Captures Illegal Immigrants, Fugitives With Criminal Histories

ICE and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office arrests David Gonzalez-Martinez, a 52-year-old criminal alien from Mexico on Feb. 5. ICE

Several previously deported illegal immigrants with criminal histories have been arrested by officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent days. They will remain in ICE custody pending deportation.

Between Jan. 29 and Feb. 1, officials from ICE Seattle arrested five illegal immigrants who have a history of unlawful reentry into the United States, the agency said in a Feb. 7 statement. The arrests came as part of a joint federal law enforcement effort. Out of the five individuals, three were Guatemalan. All three had previously been sent back to Guatemala, with the first individual sent back twice after being convicted for disorderly conduct and assault.

Additionally, the arrests included a Honduran national who was convicted by an Oregon district court, and a Mexican national had both been previously sent back to their home countries. “All five individuals will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” the agency said.

ICE and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Texas recently arrested a Mexican criminal illegal immigrant who was previously deported from the United States three times. The individual was convicted in the United States of several crimes, including possession of marijuana and aggravated assault with a weapon.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said that such criminals who violate U.S. laws pose a “direct threat to the safety of our communities.”

The illegal immigrant was arrested in Houston and booked into Harris County Jail, following which ICE lodged a detainer requesting notification when the individual is set to be released, so ICE can take custody.

“Immigration detainers are one of the most indispensable resources in the ICE officer’s toolbox,” said Bradford. “They enable our officers to take direct custody of criminal Illegal immigrants in the safe confines of the jail, which enhances the safety of everyone involved, and helps to eliminate unnecessary spending that would otherwise be required to go out and search for them in the community.”

Earlier on Jan. 22, ICE Boston arrested two illegal alien fugitives—one from Brazil who is wanted for armed robbery in his home country and another from El Salvador who is wanted in his home nation for aggravated homicide.

Amid a renewed crackdown on illegal immigrants since the beginning of the Trump administration, ICE has arrested hundreds of such individuals in targeted operations it says involves the “planned arrests of known criminal aliens who threaten national security or public safety.”

Border Security Actions

Since entering the White House for his second term, President Donald Trump has signed several executive on illegal immigration and border security, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border.

His actions have triggered protests from activist groups who are fighting the administration’s policies on the issue.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) produced a flyer encouraging illegal immigrants not to open their doors if federal immigration authorities do not have a search warrant signed by a judge, and that they have the right to remain silent when questioned.

AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson said that Trump is “dragging America down with harmful policies affecting immigrants, communities across the country, the entire economy, and our standing in the world.”

Gustavo Torres, executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates, said, “our families, our neighbors, and our friends are facing the threat of immigration raids that tear loved ones apart and create fear in the places we call home.”

On Feb. 7, a coalition of counties and cities filed a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order that directs funding to be revoked from “sanctuary” jurisdictions in the country that fail to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and shield illegal immigrants.

“This is the federal government coercing local officials to bend to their will or face defunding or prosecution,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement. “That is illegal and authoritarian.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, recently said that the government plans to set up a program that allows illegal immigrants to self-deport to avoid getting barred from reentering the country.

“There’s going to be a warning coming out, about 10 days from now, where we’re going to ... give illegal aliens the right to self-deport so they don’t get a bar placed onto them,” he said in a Feb. 5 interview with political commentator Glenn Beck.

“If you get deported from this country, formally deported, there’s a bar placed on you from five to 20 years, depending on your case, and you can’t come back under any circumstance, even if you have a U.S. citizen child.”