ICE Arrests 133 Illegal Immigrants in New York

Some of the arrested individuals carried prior convictions for murder and assault.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrest an illegal immigrant during a raid in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City on April 11, 2018. John Moore/Getty Images

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), together with several federal law enforcement agencies, announced on April 4 that it had arrested 133 illegal immigrants during an enforcement operation in New York.

The operation, conducted between March 24 and 28, focused on “criminal illegal alien offenders and other immigration violators in western, central, and northern New York to bolster public safety, national security, and border security,” ICE said in a statement.

Twenty of those arrested had prior criminal convictions or charges, including three convicted of homicide. Nine of those arrested had previously been removed from the country.

The arrests include a 49-year-old illegal immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago convicted of murder, a 50-year-old Chinese illegal immigrant convicted of assault, and a 66-year-old illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic convicted of sexual conduct with a child.

Enforcement efforts were concentrated in and around the Buffalo area and then expanded through western and upstate New York.

Eighty-four illegal immigrants were apprehended in the Buffalo and Rochester regions, with the remaining 49 taken into custody in Albany, Massena, Rouses Point, and Syracuse.

Law enforcement agencies that partnered with ICE in the enforcement operations include the Drug Enforcement Administration New York, Attorney’s Offices for the Western and Northern Districts of New York, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Buffalo, and FBI Albany.

“The success of this enhanced enforcement operation underscores the importance of utilizing a whole-of-government approach when protecting the public from criminal aliens and dangerous individuals living in our western, central, and northern New York communities,” said Erin Keegan, ICE Homeland Security Investigations Buffalo special agent in charge.

Arrests of illegal immigrant criminals for deportation have increased since President Donald Trump took office for his second term.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE made 32,809 arrests in the first 50 days of the Trump administration, which almost equaled the total arrests made in the entire fiscal year 2024.

These arrests included 14,111 convicted criminals with 9,980 carrying pending charges against them. ICE arrested 1,155 criminal gang members, nearly 2 1/2 times the number of arrests made during the same period last year.

“We have deported known terrorists, cartel members, and gang members from our country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

“We will see the number of deportations continue to rise. And illegal immigrants have the option to self-deport and come back LEGALLY in the future.”

Opposition to Law Enforcement

The Trump administration is facing pushback against some of the measures taken against illegal immigrants in the country.

On March 25, Trump signed an executive order containing provisions that bar foreigners from voting in federal elections or registering to vote. The order asked the independent Election Assistance Commission to mandate proof of U.S. citizenship in order to use mail voter registration forms.

A lawsuit against the measure was filed by the Democratic National Committee and two top U.S. lawmakers in late March.

“The Executive Order seeks to impose radical changes on how Americans register to vote, cast a ballot, and participate in our democracy—all of which threaten to disenfranchise lawful voters and none of which is legal,” the lawsuit states.

The complaint also argued that the president has no control over an independent agency such as the Election Assistance Commission.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security rolled out a repurposed app last month to facilitate self-deportation for illegal immigrants.

While announcing the app, Noem said that the earlier version of the app, called the CBP One app under the Biden administration, had allowed more than a million people to enter the United States via the southern border under a humanitarian parole authority.

“With the launching of the CBP Home app, we are restoring integrity to our immigration system,” she said.

“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream. If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

On April 1, CBP announced that about 7,180 southwest border crossings were recorded for the month of March, a “dramatic drop compared to the monthly average of 155,000 from the previous four years,” it said.

Daily apprehensions at the southwest border were at roughly 230 per day, which is a 95 percent drop from the prior administration’s numbers, according to the agency.