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Nationwide immigration sweep nets 3,000; 56 arrests in Arizona

by Daniel Gonzlez - Sept. 28, 2011 01:25 PM The Arizona Republic Susan Rastella and 16 others recommend this. Add Recommend Comment 7

Federal immigration officials have arrested nearly 3,000 immigrants, including 56 from Arizona, as part of a nationwide effort to deport immigrants convicted of serious crimes and immigrants who repeatedly violated immigration laws. The arrests were the result of a 7-day operation across 50 states, the largest operation of its kind ever conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials said. In Arizona, 46 of the arrests took place in the Phoenix area and seven were made in Tucson. Additional arrests took place in Sierra Vista and Rio Rico in southern Arizona, ICE officials said. The Arizona arrests included 38 immigrants with prior criminal convictions for serious felonies, including aggravated assault, child abuse and drug trafficking, ICE officials said. In Phoenix, immigration agents arrested a 33-year Mexican immigrant convicted of child abuse and a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant convicted of three counts of possession of drugs for sale, ICE officials said. Also arrested was a 19-year-old Mexican immigrant who is a documented gang member; he has a conviction for disorderly conduct. "This enforcement action highlights our dedication to improving public safety by targeting criminal aliens who have no right to be in Arizona victimizing our communities," Katrina S. Kane, field office director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations in Arizona, said in a written statement. All of the 2,900 immigrants arrested nationwide had been convicted of serious crimes in addition to being immigration violators, said Vincent Picard, an ICE spokesman in Phoenix. They included 681 fugitives previously ordered to leave the country, 387 immigrants who had illegally re-entered the country after deportation and 1,835 immigrants, both legal and illegal, convicted of serious crimes and subject to deportation, Picard said. Of the 56 immigrants arrested in Arizona, two were fugitives who had previously been ordered deported but remained in the country, five were illegal immigrants who had re-entered the country illegally after they had been deported, and 49 were immigrants, both legal and illegal, convicted of crimes and subject to deportation. "This wasn't necessarily the low-hanging fruit," he said. "These are people who had been convicted of serious crimes or multiple violations." ICE Director John Morton said there are still an estimated 1 million criminal illegal immigrants in the country. ICE has been widely criticized in recent months for using fingerprints collected in local jails to identify illegal immigrants. Many of the people identified through the Secure Communities program have not been convicted of a crime, only charged, and have been arrested for traffic violations or other misdemeanors. In an Aug. 18 letter to a group of senators who have pushed for immigration reform, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said officials from DHS and the Justice Department would review approximately 300,000 deportation cases pending in federal immigration court. At the time, officials said most non-criminals and those who do not pose a threat to public safety or national security would likely have their cases put on hold indefinitely. Those people would be allowed to stay in the country and apply for a work permit. Critics have argued that the decision to delay some deportation cases amounts to amnesty for thousands of illegal immigrants.

Critics have argued that the decision to delay some deportation cases amounts to amnesty for thousands of illegal immigrants. Morton said Wednesday the review has not started. But agents in the field have been instructed to use discretion in evaluating who should be arrested and put in the system for deportation. In a June memo, Morton said discretion could be used in a variety of cases, including for people with no criminal record and young people brought to the United States illegally as children. And some ICE offices and immigration judges around the country have already put a hold on a handful of cases. Includes information from The Associated Press

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