NORTH JERSEY — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested thirteen immigration violators in New Jersey during a four-day surge effort that targeted aliens who have been issued a final order of removal in the past five years, have failed to depart the United States, and have received criminal convictions or have pending criminal charges.
“As this operation clearly demonstrates, ICE continues to focus its efforts first on public safety threats,” said ERO Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris. “The vast majority of the individuals targeted in this effort have criminal offenses in addition to their immigration violations, making them among the highest priority for enforcement.”
On Monday, May 13, ICE arrested an unlawfully present citizen of El Salvador, with prior convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon/bodily injury.
On Tuesday, May 14, ICE arrested an unlawfully present citizen of Ecuador, who has a pending assault / domestic violence charge.
On Wednesday, May 15, ICE arrested an unlawfully present citizen of Jamaica, who has a prior firearms-related offense.
On Thursday, May 16, ICE arrested an unlawfully present citizen of Mexico who has a pending simple assault/domestic violence charge and two DUI convictions.
All four individuals have been ordered removed by a federal immigration judge.
Some of the individuals arrested during this operation will face federal criminal prosecution for illegal reentry after removal. The arrestees who are not being federally prosecuted will be processed administratively for removal from the United States. Those who have outstanding orders of removal, or who returned to the United States illegally after being removed, are generally subject to immediate removal from the country. The remaining individuals are in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge or pending travel arrangements for removal.
In FY2018, ERO arrested 158,581 aliens, 90% of whom had criminal convictions (66%), pending criminal charges (21%), or previously issued final orders of removal (3%). The overall arrest figure represents an 11% increase over FY2017. In FY2018, ERO removed 256,086 illegal aliens, reflecting an increase of 13% over FY2017. The majority of removals (57%) were convicted criminals. Additionally, 5,914 of the removed illegal aliens were classified as either known or suspected gang members or terrorists, which is a 9% increase over FY2017.
Editor’s Note: The arrest statistics provided represent preliminary data that has been manually reported by an ICE Field Office and may vary from official agency metrics contained in ICE’s system of record. Because ICE’s official metrics are reported by Area of Responsibility (AOR), they may differ in content and level of detail from data that has been manually reported by a Field Office.
