Some 300 Criminal Aliens Apprehended In Florida Dragnet

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it detained more than 300 criminal aliens in Florida during a three-week operation that concluded at the end of September.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ER) officers apprehended 314 criminal aliens in a sweep aimed at netting public safety threats in the Sunshine State.

More than a quarter of those criminal aliens apprehended had felony convictions for crimes including murder, attempted murder, child sex crimes, sex offenses, weapons charges and drug violations.

Sixteen of the criminal aliens ICE arrested had previously been deported and will be prosecuted for felony re-entry.

Most of the arrests occurred in Miami-Dade (where ICE officers made 81 arrests), Broward (62 arrests), Martin (34 arrests), Palm Beach (31 arrests), and Hillsborough (29 arrests) counties.

Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Hillsborough have all been identified by the Center for Immigration Studies as sanctuary jurisdictions, or areas that do not honor ICE requests to hold deportable criminal aliens or provide other hurdles for immigration enforcement. CIS reports that the 340 sanctuary jurisdictions in the U.S. are responsible for the release of about 1,000 criminal aliens per month.

Among the criminals arrested was a Cuban lawful permanent resident who was convicted of “Lewd and or Lascivious Act” on a minor; a Jamaican national who pled guilty to murder; a Mexican national convicted of “enticement of a minor for prostitution and procurement for prostitution;” a Peruvian lawful permanent resident convicted of sexual battery on a minor; and a Mexican national convicted of lewd conduct.

The countries of origin of those criminal aliens arrested include: Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Jamaica, Ukraine, Bahamas, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts, Turks & Caicos, Antigua, Cuba, Canada, Czech Republic, Romania, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Latvia, Greece and Egypt.