ICE agents arrest 10 county residents (The Brownsville Herald)

ICE agents arrest 10 county residents
June 21, 2011 9:25 PM
By LAURA B. MARTINEZ/The Brownsville Herald

Ten Cameron County residents are among 2,400 arrested nationwide by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a crackdown on convicted criminal aliens.

The federal agency in May launched a seven-day enforcement program dubbed “Cross Check” in which authorities arrested con-victed criminal aliens throughout the 50 states.

In Cameron County, arrests were made in the cities of Brownsville, Los Fresnos, La Feria, Harlingen, San Benito and Port Isabel. An additional 12 arrests were made in other parts of the Rio Grande Valley, said Nina Pruneda, DHS-ICE spokeswoman for the South Texas and Central Texas area.

“The results of this operation underscore ICE’s ongoing focus on arresting those convicted criminal aliens who prey upon our communities and tracking down fugitives who game our nation’s immigration system,” said ICE Director John Morton in a press release. “This targeted enforcement operation is a direct result of excellent teamwork among law enforcement agencies who share a commitment to protect public safety.”

According to the press release, the criminal aliens taken into custody had prior convictions for crimes such as armed robbery, drug trafficking, child abuse, sexual crimes against minors, aggravated assault, theft, forgery and driving under the influence.

The nature of the convictions of those arrested in Cameron County was not known.

ICE officials said 22 percent of the 2,400 arrested nationwide were immigration fugitives and convicted criminal aliens who re-fused to comply with their deportation orders and failed to leave the country.

The agency reports that to date, ICE has removed more than 109,700 criminal aliens from the United State in fiscal year 2011. This number includes 585 convicted of homicide and more than 3,177 who are convicted sex offenders.