Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Houston office recently arrested 277 illegal immigrants who had been convicted of 751 crimes between them.
The arrests, made between April 6 and April 17, include “17 child predators, six murderers, 16 drug traffickers, 15 gang members or associates, 67 robbers, two foreign fugitives wanted for murder, and 11 aliens convicted of hit-and-run,” ICE said in an April 22 statement, adding that the 277 criminals have altogether entered the United States illegally 654 times.
Among the arrested are an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is a member of the MS-13 gang and had been sentenced in her homeland to 228 years for homicide and other crimes, a Vietnamese illegal immigrant convicted of murder in Houston in 1991, a Mexican national convicted of sexual assault and drug possession, and an illegal immigrant from Honduras convicted of sexual assault on a child in Harris County, Texas.
ICE said the arrests were made by the agency with assistance from federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.
“President Trump and Secretary Mullin know that when ICE works with local and state law enforcement partners, that communities are safer, illegal aliens are arrested, and the American people are protected,” said Paul McBride, field office chief at ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston, referring to acting Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
“Thanks to those relationships, we’ve removed hundreds of dangerous criminal illegal alien child predators, murderers, drug traffickers, gang members, and thieves from the local community in just two weeks and prevented an untold number of U.S. citizens from becoming victims,” McBride said.
ICE said the “staggering arrests” were made at the same time the Houston City Council and Harris County Commissioners Court continue to push to limit local law enforcement cooperation with the agency.
McBride warned that if measures to limit law enforcement cooperation were implemented, “there will be immediate impacts to public safety, national security, and border security.”
Nationally, ICE has made several other significant arrests. On April 16, the agency said it had arrested five illegal immigrants in New England with foreign arrest warrants for murder or homicide in their home nations.
Illegal Immigrant Crackdown
This week, Democrats requested that the Government Accountability Office investigate the Trump administration’s “attacks” on America’s legal immigration system, according to an April 22 statement from Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).The Trump administration has “stopped visa processing for immigrant visa applicants from 75 countries, and ended most refugee and asylum processing,” the statement said.
“The administration has provided little explanation for the basis for these sweeping changes, leaving immigrants and their families, employers, and communities completely lost as to how to comply with immigration laws, maintain status, and avoid arbitrary immigration enforcement.”
The Trump administration has said that these policies were implemented to protect national interests.
“The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the department said.
The State Department on Feb. 2 said it had fully or partially suspended visa issuance to 39 nations to “protect the security of the United States.”
In March, USCIS announced it had started accepting some asylum claims from these nations. However, the applications are subject to stringent reviews. “Our ongoing efforts are designed to ensure that only eligible and vetted individuals are granted immigration benefits,” the agency said.
