An Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation aided by Florida law enforcement nabbed over 400 illegal immigrants in under a week.
The operation, which spanned September 22 to 26, targeted “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens with outstanding criminal warrants and illegal aliens subject to deportation.”
“This was another successful operation to arrest the worst of the worst with our Florida state and local partners and can serve as a blueprint nationwide,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “This operation resulted in the arrest of more than 400 illegal aliens including those charged and convicted of lewd and lascivious behavior, battery, domestic violence, prostitution, vehicle theft, hit and run, and driving under the influence.”
Among those detained during the operation were Walther Ramiro Hernandez-Ortiz, an illegal from Honduras who has been arrested for battery and lewd/lascivious behavior;
Juan Carlos Hernandez-Reyes, an illegal from Mexico with convictions for domestic violence and prostitution;
and Edgar Rivera-Salinas, an illegal from Mexico whose convictions include vehicle theft, drug possession, and illegal entry.
According to DHS, the operation utilized Florida state and local law enforcement under the federal 287(g) partner program, which allows ICE to “delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight.”
There are 327 agreements under the 287(g) program in place in Florida, the most in the nation, according to the agency.
“We are calling on more state and local law enforcement across the U.S. to join us in the fight to remove the worst of the worst from American communities,” McLaughlin added.
