Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 76 illegal immigrants with criminal records in Florida and Puerto Rico as part of a four-day operation that ended April 21, the agency said Wednesday.
Fifty-seven of those who were taken into custody had been convicted of felony charges, including child sex crimes, aggravated assault with deadly weapon and drug violations. Another 19 people were previously convicted of lesser crimes, including larceny, trespass, driving under the influence and fraud.
In addition, 13 illegal immigrants were found to have been previously deported and may be prosecuted by the Justice Department for re-entry, which is a felony.
Twenty criminal aliens were seized in Martin County, Fla. Down in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, 16 people were taken into custody. Collier, Duval, Hillsborough and Orange Counties each had between two and 11 people seized. Only three individuals were arrested in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.
The operation targeted criminals, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives, which President Trump said in a Jan. 27 executive order were a priority for deportation.
“ICE is committed to making our communities safer by removing threats to our public safety,” Marc J. Moore, field office director for the Miami Field Office of ERO, said in a statement. “Communities across Florida and Puerto Rico are safer today because of the hard work of our ERO officers.”
Over the past month, ICE reported arresting more than 640 illegal aliens through standard enforcement operations in nearly a dozen states, including 95 people in Southeast Texas last week.
Individuals arrested in Florida and Puerto Rico are nationals of the Bahamas, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, South Africa, St. Kitts, Ukraine and Vietnam.
