Feds arrest 370 immigrants in 10 states — 35 in Chicago
Federal officials say they have arrested 370 convicted illegal immigrants and immigration fugitives in a three-day bust in 10 Midwest states — 35 of them in Chicago.
Some of the people arrested included gang members and sex offenders. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say
At a press conference today in Chicago John Morton, director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said 350 agents and officers were joined in the three-day sting by U.S. Marshals Service personnel, the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service, The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and the Transportation Security Administration along local law enforcement.
“ICE is focused on arresting convicted criminals who prey upon our communities, and tracking down fugitives who scoff at our nation’s immigration laws,” Morton said.
The operation ended Thursday and arrests were made in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan and Ohio. Other arrests were made in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.
Officials said they arrested 347 immigrants with prior criminal convictions including nine gang members and 16 convicted sex offenders. Of the 370 people arrested, 339 were male and 31 were female. They represented 56 different countries from Latin America, Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East.
More than 56 percent of the people had prior convictions for serious or violent crimes including armed robbery, drug trafficking, child abuse, sexual crimes against minors, aggravated assault, theft and forgery, officials said.
Officials today highlighted some of the people arrested including a 23-year-old man from Laos who had been convicted of raping a child, a 25-year-old from Mexico who was a member of the Latin Kings gang who had been convicted of theft, drug trafficking, and criminal mischief; a 24-year-old Ukrainian who had been convicted of theft, receiving stolen property, drug possession, assault, forgery and disorderly conduct; and a 24-year-old Liberian convicted of dealing cocaine, sexual abuse of a minor an