Federal immigration agents in the Southland arrested 244 foreign nationals who are in the country illegally and have prior criminal records, authorities said today. Los Angeles County accounted for the largest number of arrests with 99, followed by Orange County with 55; San Bernardino County with 43; Riverside County with 24; Santa Barbara County with 20; and San Luis Obispo County with 3, ICE officials said. “I think to infer from [the sweep] that potentially foreign nationals are committing more crimes is flawed”. According to an ICE news release, 56 percent had felony convictions for serious or violent offenses, including child sex crimes, weapon charges and drug violations. The remaining immigrants who are not being criminally prosecuted are being processed for removal from the U.S. The immigrants came from 21 different countries including Mexico, Peru, Thailand, France and Ghana.
Not everyone captured in the sweep was in the country illegally, Kice said.But previous year, a federal judge found that practice illegal, prompting hundreds of counties to stop honoring the detainer requests. In the past, locating and deporting immigrants who had been convicted of crimes was much easier, the Los Angeles Times reported. As a result, ICE officials say they have to rely on costly and unsafe manhunts or multiday sweeps like the one conducted last week.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday that more than half of the 244 people arrested last week had felony convictions and the rest had significant or multiple misdemeanor convictions.Also arrested was Vincente Onofre-Ramirez, 35, who was taken into custody at his home in Santa Ana on Tuesday.
Those who have deportations orders in place and those who re-entered the country after being deported will be immediately removed, while the rest will have the opportunity to plead their case before a judge. Frequently, those who are arrested have been preying on others in immigrant communities, Marin said.“This operation exemplifies ICE’s ongoing commitment to prioritizing convicted criminals and public safety threats for apprehension and removal”, he said in a prepared statement.This article was originally posted at 12:17 p.m.