In huge news announced on Monday, March 10, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it had, working alongside various law enforcement agencies, conducted a sweeping immigration raid in Texas in which it caught nearly 650 illegal aliens, over three-quarters of whom had criminal records.
As background, the massive raid comes as the Trump Administration, led on this issue by Border Czar Tom Homan and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has struggled to maintain a high pace of deportations, though it is trying to pick the pace up with large raids while also encouraging self-deportation.
Announcing the news in a press release on its official website, ICE said, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in conjunction with federal, state and local law enforcement, arrested 646 undocumented aliens – including 543 criminal aliens and seven documented gang members – during a week-long targeted enforcement operation conducted between Feb. 23 and March 2 in the Houston area to bolster public safety, national security, and border security.”
Continuing, ICE noted the sweeping nature of the raid, describing the number number of warrants executed and the many illegals with criminal backgrounds who were caught. It said, “During the operation, ICE and its partners executed 71 criminal arrest warrants and arrested 543 undocumented aliens who have been charged or convicted of a criminal offense while they were illegally present in the U.S.”
It then went on to describe the huge number of crimes those captured illegals committed. Beginning, it noted that well over a hundred had some sort of violent felony as their background, yet still were in the United States. It said, “140 criminal aliens charged or convicted of an aggravated felony or other violent offense such as homicide, aggravated assault, or domestic violence.”
Continuing, it described the dozens of captured illegals who had committed horrid crimes, including those against children, of a sexual nature. It said, “34 criminal aliens charged or convicted of a sex offense or child sex offense such as aggravated sexual assault of a minor, possession of child pornography, or rape.”
Further, it noted that many had records of possession of illegal items, such as guns and drugs. It said, “38 criminal aliens convicted of illegal firearms offenses such as unlawful carrying of a firearm, alien in possession of a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm” and “52 criminal aliens charged or convicted of illicit narcotics offenses such as drug trafficking, or possession of a controlled substance.”
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Wrapping up the section describing their crimes, ICE noted, “51 criminal aliens charged or convicted of property crimes such as burglary or theft.” And, concluding that section, it noted that nearly 100 had DUI records, noting, “93 criminal aliens charged or convicted of driving while intoxicated.”
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford, commenting on the matter, said, “In recent years, some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members and criminal aliens have taken advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to illegally enter the U.S.”
Bradford continued, “After illegally entering the country, many of these criminal aliens have gone on to commit violent crime and reign terror on law-abiding residents. Fueled by our unwavering commitment to protect the public from harm, and united in our determination to restore integrity to our nation’s system of laws, ICE and our law enforcement partners in Southeast Texas have banded together to remove these dangerous criminal aliens from our local communities and put an end to the lawlessness that they spread.”
Also commenting on the matter was ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz, who said, “In just one week working alongside our counterparts from federal, state and local law enforcement, ICE HSI special agents successfully executed 71 criminal arrest warrants and made 554 administrative arrests that included illegally present human smugglers, gang members, human traffickers, child sex offenders, drug traffickers and weapons traffickers.”
Plantz added, “These collective efforts have made our local communities significantly safer and strengthened our national security and border security. As a result, we’ve sent a resounding message to transnational criminal organizations everywhere that the law enforcement community in the Texas Gulf Coast is more united than ever and will not rest until we’ve eradicated these criminal elements from the country.”
Watch JD Vance comment on the massive illegal immigration problem here:
Featured image credit: ICE