A week-long multi-agency operation in the Houston area resulted in the arrest of 646 undocumented immigrants, including 543 criminal aliens and seven gang members, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced.
The targeted enforcement operation, conducted between February 23rd and March 2nd, aimed to enhance public safety, national security, and border security.
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ICE, in collaboration with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, executed 71 criminal arrest warrants during the operation.
Among those arrested were:
- 140 criminal aliens charged or convicted of aggravated felonies or violent offenses, including homicide, aggravated assault, and domestic violence.
- 34 criminal aliens charged or convicted of sex offenses or child sex offenses, such as aggravated sexual assault of a minor, possession of child pornography, and rape.
- 38 criminal aliens convicted of illegal firearms offenses, including unlawful carrying of a firearm, alien in possession of a firearm, and aggravated assault with a firearm.
- 52 criminal aliens charged or convicted of illicit narcotics offenses, such as drug trafficking and possession of a controlled substance.
- 51 criminal aliens charged or convicted of property crimes, such as burglary and theft.
- 93 criminal aliens charged or convicted of driving while intoxicated.
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“In recent years, some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members and criminal aliens have taken advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to illegally enter the U.S.,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford. “After illegally entering the country, many of these criminal aliens have gone on to commit violent crime and reign terror on law-abiding residents. Fueled by our unwavering commitment to protect the public from harm, and united in our determination to restore integrity to our nation’s system of laws, ICE and our law enforcement partners in Southeast Texas have banded together to remove these dangerous criminal aliens from our local communities and put an end to the lawlessness that they spread.”
“In just one week working alongside our counterparts from federal, state and local law enforcement, ICE HSI special agents successfully executed 71 criminal arrest warrants and made 554 administrative arrests that included illegally present human smugglers, gang members, human traffickers, child sex offenders, drug traffickers and weapons traffickers,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz.
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The operation involved numerous law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Diplomatic Security Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
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