A sweep by immigration officers led to the arrest of 163 foreign nationals in Northern Virginia, including 130 with criminal records, authorities announced Wednesday. The arrests come after a handful of high-profile crimes involving illegal immigrants in Northern Virginia. The sweep was conducted Sunday to Tuesday and resulted in 134 men and 29 women from 32 countries being taken into custody, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were arrested on immigration violations, but 130 had criminal backgrounds, eight were fugitives wanted for immigration violations and three had previously been deported.
“For those who come here unlawfully and commit crimes at the expense of their neighbors and their communities, we will not rest until we find you and send you home,” ICE Director John Morton said.
Thirteen people were arrested in Alexandria, 11 in Arlington, 60 in Fairfax, 20 in Loudoun and 37 in Prince William. The other 22 were apprehended elsewhere in Virginia.
Earlier this month, Carlos Sanchez-Ramos, a Springfield man from Honduras who had been deported once before, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in a fatal crash near Fort Belvoir. And Carlos A. Martinelly Montano, an illegal immigrant from Bolivia, is scheduled to face trial in Prince William County later this year on a felony murder charge in connection with an August crash that killed a Benedictine nun and severely injured two others.
ICE says it is stepping up efforts to remove immigrants who have committed crimes in the United States. Those arrested this week include a 39-year-old Ecuadorian national in Arlington who has convictions for the rape of a child between 13 and 15 years old, assault and battery of a family member and grand larceny, ICE officials said.
Also arrested was a 49-year-old Salvadoran national in Woodbridge whose past includes hit-and-run, drunken-driving and child abuse convictions.
ICE officials would not release the names of people arrested because they were taken into custody on immigration offenses, not criminal charges.
Some were in the country illegally, and others were legal permanent residents whose past convictions may make them eligible for deportation, ICE spokeswoman Cori Bassett said.
Those who have outstanding deportation orders or returned illegally after having been deported will be removed or criminally prosecuted. The others will be go through administrative removal proceedings.
Bassett said whether those people remain in custody or are released during immigration proceedings is determined on a case-by-case basis.
