Nearly 200 illegal immigrants arrested across New England
Michael Kunzelman:
The man they arrested, a native of Trinidad who has 22 criminal charges on his rap sheet and was ordered deported five months ago, is one of at least 187 illegal immigrants who have been rounded up over the past six days in a sweep organized by the Department of Homeland Security.
Starting last Friday around midnight, dozens of federal, state and local law-enforcement officers fanned out across New England to search for roughly 200 people convicted of a variety of crimes who have been ordered deported.
By Wednesday afternoon, they had arrested at least 85 of those targeted plus 60 illegal immigrants without criminal records who have been ordered deported for other reasons. They made an additional 42 "collateral" arrests of people who haven't yet been ordered to leave the country but are here illegally.
The operation, which was to be discussed Thursday at a news conference in Boston, is believed to be the largest of its kind ever staged by any of ICE's 22 regional field offices, said Bruce Chadbourne, New England field director for ICE, which is part of Homeland Security.
The agency, created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, considers the sweep a chance to protect residents from neighborhood crime as well as improve national security.
"American citizens are far more likely to be a victim of a violent crime in their own community than a victim of a terrorist attack," Chadbourne said.
Last year, ICE arrested 10,982 of an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants who were considered fugitives after they were ordered deported, including 755 arrests in the six New England states, Chadbourne said.
The number of arrests could rise sharply this year: Homeland Security officials recently announced plans to increase the number of ICE "fugitive apprehension teams" from 18 to 38 within the next two months, according to Chadbourne. Each team consists of roughly seven agents.
"It's going to mean a lot more people apprehended and removed," Chadbourne said.
Arresting illegal immigrants was the responsibility of the Immigration and Naturalization Service until the March 2003 creation of Homeland Security and ICE, which absorbed INS's enforcement duties.
One of ICE's largest fugitive sweeps is Operation Predator, which targets people convicted of crimes against children and has resulted in more than 5,000 arrests nationwide since it began in 2003.
105 suspected Mass. illegals scooped by feds
187 illegal immigrants rounded up in N.E. sweep
200 Illegal Immigrants Arrested Throughout New England
posted by Adam Lawson @ 1:21 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
That's good news. What I'd like to know is why they can't summarily deport people who are confirmed to be here illegally.
I don't know if you're following the situation in Hudson, New Hampshire, but they're still carrying out their policy of arresting illegal immigrants for trespassing on public property. I approve.
Hudson arrests mount as police charge illegals
My Stance on Immigration: The House Doctrine
I was aware of the situation. I am just worried that the ACLU or some other pro-immigrant group will convince a court to put a stop to it by claiming that it violates the "civil rights" of the "undocumented workers".
That is my worry as well. I just don't get why we can't just deport foreign nationals who break our laws . . . actually, we can. And this is the sick thing -- I know a guy, a Korean, who was here legally on a student visa. When his parents were out of town, he threw a party involving alcohol. The police were called, he was deported. Why is it so hard to deport illegal aliens?
And you bring up another sore point. How have we allowed our country to get to the point where it is a violation of someones civil rights to enforce the law? Where did my Republic go? Have you seen it anywhere?
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