In another major win for immigration enforcement in America, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers working in the sanctuary city of Boston arrested a whopping 1400 illegal aliens during a nearly month-long operation targeting organized crime in the city and its environs. The operation in which the arrests occurred was called Operation Patriot 2.0, and it occurred for most of September.
As background, with many sanctuary city officials proving intransigent in the face of the Trump Administration’s efforts to hold lawbreakers accountable and enforce American immigration law, ICE has used surges of officers and sweeping operations to tackle the massive problems that have metastasized within them.
One such operation was the one at issue here, Operation Patriot 2.0, which dealt a serious blow to the organized crime matter inside the city. The press release began by announcing, “ICE and federal law enforcement partners apprehended more than 1,400 illegal aliens during a weeks-long immigration enforcement operation focusing on transnational organized crime, gangs and egregious illegal alien offenders throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
Continuing, the press release explained that nearly half of those arrested as part of the operation had serious criminal backgrounds. It noted, “More than 600 illegal aliens arrested had significant criminal convictions or pending criminal charges for crimes committed in the United States or were known foreign fugitives.”
Building on that, the press release described who the operation was meant to target in the sanctuary city, explaining, “Throughout the duration of Operation Patriot 2.0, ICE and its federal law enforcement partners targeted egregious criminal alien offenders, including transnational criminal organizations known to operate in and around Boston and throughout Massachusetts.”
Giving yet more details on that, the press release noted that a number of especially noxious and notorious criminal gangs were targeted, saying, “These organizations include the notorious MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Trinitarios and 18th Street gangs. Six of those arrested were documented members of transnational criminal gangs while several others were gang associates.”
And, returning to the matter of the sort of awful criminals it had managed to target in Boston, saying, “ICE and its federal law enforcement partners prosecuted numerous targets who had foreign arrest warrants and Interpol Red Notices, apprehending criminal alien offenders wanted by authorities in several foreign countries. Three of those arrested were known or suspected terrorists.”
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Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons, commenting on what is going on in sanctuary cities and how they are putting Americans at risk, was quoted in the release as saying, “Patriot 2.0 exposed the grave consequences of sanctuary policies and the urgent need for local leaders to prioritize their constituents’ safety over politics.”
Adding yet further to that, acting Director Lyons noted that Boston’s sanctuary policies have allowed a great many horrible criminals to remain in proximity to law-abiding citizens, putting them at risk. He said, “Every illegal alien we arrested during the operation was breaking U.S. immigration law, and hundreds were violent criminals who should never have been allowed to roam freely in our communities.”
Concluding, he said, “Local law enforcement agencies released them instead of handing them over to us in a secure environment, and this puts neighborhoods, law enforcement officers and illegal aliens at risk. Local politicians are responsible for protecting their constituents, so they need to step up and end irresponsible sanctuary policies.”
Watch one of the September arrests here: