Immigration officers visited the Hoosier state and arrested 426 illegal immigrants during Operation Safe Community-Indiana earlier this month, federal authorities said.
The five-day immigration enforcement operation took place Aug. 30-Sept. 3 and netted illegal offenders charged or convicted of sex crimes, assault and battery, domestic assault, drug trafficking and driving while intoxicated, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
“Operation Safe Community-Indiana reflects ICE’s continued commitment to protecting Hoosier communities by working alongside our state and local law enforcement partners to arrest and remove criminal alien offenders who pose threats to public safety,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Assistant Director Patricia Hyde said.
According to news release from ICE, officers focused on the Indianapolis metropolitan area, where they made the majority of arrests. However, the agency conducted enforcement work across the state.
Some of those arrested committed an array of crimes, including assault with a dangerous weapon, various weapons offenses, fraud, identity theft, burglary, property damage, public order crimes and more, ICE officials said.
Operation Safe Community — a five-day ICE-led immigration enforcement operation in Indiana — netted 426 illegal alien arrests between Aug. 30 and Sept. 3.
Among the offenders taken off Indiana streets were illegal aliens with criminal histories that include sex crimes, assault… pic.twitter.com/P8Z10D5RdZ
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) September 23, 2026
Additionally, ICE officers arrested members of transnational criminal street gangs such as MS-13, 18th Street and Tren de Aragua.
A few of those arrested include:
William Humberto Giron, from El Salvador, whose criminal history includes sexual battery, confinement, intimidation, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, DWI with bodily injury, failure to identify self and illegal reentry of a deported alien.
Deyron Diaz-Fernandez, from Nicaragua, who racked up charges for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a public officer, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, resisting law enforcement, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, DWI and driving without a license.
Mexican national Jose Juan Senovio is a validated member of the Surenos 13 street gang whose criminal history includes numerous drug crimes and failure to appear in court.
Nicolas Lopez, from Mexico, has a criminal history for domestic battery, aggravated discharge of a firearm, criminal trespassing, DWI and possessing a firearm without a valid firearm ID.
Haitian national Rhod Offerley Neptune was arrested for burglary, illegal possession of a firearm and resisting a law enforcement officer.
Mario David Falla-Perez, a Guatemalan national, was arrested for domestic assault and battery, public records forgery, identity theft, false status documents and credit card larceny.
ICE’s announcement of Operation Safe Community comes after several videos and photos captured ICE agents in multiple locations in central Indiana, including in Indianapolis and in Bloomington, FOX 59 reported.
In one incident, ICE agents arrested a person with felony warrants at 54 Beauty Lounge, a hair salon and barbershop on Pendleton Pike, after the man barricaded himself inside, WISH-TV 8 reported.
Indiana falls under ICE Chicago’s operational jurisdiction. The Chicago Field Office covers Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky and Kansas.
ICE Chicago Deputy Field Office Director Raymond Hernandez described it as a brief but intense operation.
“Operations like this make for safer American neighborhoods,” Hernandez said. “Every alien arrested during this operation was in violation of U.S. immigration law, and Indiana is safer today as a result of the hard work of our ICE officers.”
Operation Safe Community-Indiana was similar to operations in Atlanta and the Washington, D.C. area, Hyde said, adding it helps when law enforcement agencies work together or don’t actively interfere with ICE operations.
“This operation underscores the fact that when law enforcement agencies cooperate, the American people are safer,” Hyde said. “We thank our state and local partners for their support and continued commitment to protecting communities across Indiana and the nation.”
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, has been supportive of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, particularly when it comes to semi-truck drivers with a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license.
After several fatalities involving illegal immigrant truckers, Indiana lawmakers proposed House Bill 1200 and Braun signed it into law. The measure took effect on April 1, making Indiana one of the strictest states in the country regarding non-domiciled CDLs.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles revoked nearly 1,800 of the non-domiciled CDLs held by nonimmigrant visa holders who did not qualify under the new restrictions.
U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, also established a TruckSafe Tipline targeting unauthorized truck drivers.
In January, ICE lodged detainers for Gunpreet Singh and Jasveer Singh, illegal immigrants from India, after they had been arrested for smuggling more than 300 pounds of cocaine in a semi-truck in Putnam County, Indiana. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s DMV had given both men CDLs.
In February, a high-profile, fatal semi-truck crash killed four Amish men in Jay County, Indiana. A semi-truck driven by Bekzhan Beishekeev, a 30-year-old national of Kyrgyzstan, failed to brake for a slowed truck in front of him and struck a passenger van head-on.
Braun also has prioritized expansion of the Indiana State Police drug interdiction unit and safety inspection of commercial motor vehicles.
Over Labor Day weekend, Indiana State Police found approximately $3.8 million in cocaine during a traffic stop of a commercial vehicle on Interstate 70 in Putnam County, Indiana.
The driver, Harpreet Singh, from Greenwood, Indiana, was not identified as an illegal immigrant, but authorities arrested him and booked into the Putnam County Jail.
Singh reportedly told ISP that he was transporting an empty trailer from Memphis, Tennessee, to Indianapolis, FOX 59 reported. Officers found several duffle bags that contained an estimated 277 pounds of cocaine.
In April, ISP officers busted another driver, 27-year-old Harman Deep Singh of Bakersfield, California, with 400 pounds of cocaine in Putnam County.
