RivCo ICE Sweep Snares Alleged Criminal Aliens

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA – More than two dozen illegal immigrants, most of them with criminal backgrounds, were apprehended in Riverside County during a U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement operation, federal officials said Thursday.

ICE's Fugitive Operations officers conducted a five-day sweep throughout Southern California that concluded Wednesday, netting a total 188 arrests in six counties.

Los Angeles County had the highest number of arrests — 93, followed by 26 in Riverside County, 23 in Orange County, 21 in San Bernardino County, 14 in Ventura County and 11 in Santa Barbara County.

The immigrant offenders have convictions for sexual assault, manslaughter, robbery, narcotics dealing, auto theft and a host of other felonies and misdemeanors, according to ICE. Some of the individuals taken into custody had re-entered the country after being deported and now face federal charges for violating immigration laws again, authorities said.

Nine of the arrests were made in city of Riverside, with four in Moreno Valley, three each in Corona and Perris, two in Indio, and one each in Hemet, Menifee and Norco.

About 80 percent of those taken into custody were from Mexico. Smaller numbers were identified as Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Armenian and Russian nationals.

The vast majority of suspects, 146, were from Mexico. Other nationalities included 13 from El Salvador; 12 from Guatemala; five each from Armenia and Honduras; and one each from Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Yugoslavia and Cambodia.

The arrestees included:

• a 29-year-old Salvadoran national convicted of rape in California who had been deported in 2013 after serving a nine-year prison term;
• a previously deported 51-year-old Mexican national who had served three years in a California prison following his conviction for cocaine trafficking; and
• a 47-year-old Mexican national who has prior convictions for felony assault and another conviction for battery.

The operation targeted public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and individuals who have violated United States immigration laws, including people who had re-entered the country after being removed, as well as immigration fugitives ordered deported by federal immigration judges, according to ICE.

"During targeted enforcement operations, ICE officers frequently encounter additional suspects who may be in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws," an ICE statement said. "Those persons will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and, when appropriate, arrested by ICE."

Since President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders prioritizing immigration enforcement earlier this year, more than 41,000 known or suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested nationwide-- a roughly 40 percent increase over the same period in 2016, according to ICE.

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--City News Service/File photo via Wikimedia Commons