The Washington Times reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had one of its largest operations this past week, arresting 212 illegal aliens from 122 business in the Los Angeles area.
The Washington Times Stephen Dinan reports, “Nearly all of those arrested were convicted criminals, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE said it targeted Los Angeles because it’s a sanctuary city, meaning it refuses to fully cooperate with federal authorities on deportations from within its jails.
That means agents and officers have to go out into the community, said Thomas D. Homan, the agency’s deputy director. 'Fewer jail arrests mean more arrests on the street, and that also requires more resources, which is why we are forced to send additional resources to those areas to meet operational needs and officer safety,' Mr. Homan said. 'Consistent with our public safety mission, 88 percent of those arrested during this operation were convicted criminals.'”
Homan also said that because of sanctuary city policies put in place in many communities, ICE is forced to carry out these broad sweeps which could potentially place themselves and innocent civilians at an even greater risk. “Because sanctuary jurisdictions like Los Angeles prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, our officers are forced to conduct at-large arrests in the community, putting officers, the general public and the aliens at greater risk and increasing the incidents of collateral arrests," he said in a press released issued yesterday.
According to a recent Pew study, ICE has greatly increased the number of arrests made under President Trump compared with President Obama's term in office. "Overall, the number of ICE arrests decreased sharply during that span, from 297,898 in 2009 (the year President Barack Obama came into office) to 143,470 in 2017 (when President Donald Trump took office). However, last year’s total represented a 30% increase from the year before, with most of the increase coming after Trump signed an executive order to step up enforcement," the study found.
That same study also found that in 2017, "Immigrants with past criminal convictions accounted for 74% of all arrests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents."