US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of 214 illegal immigrants over a period of six months in Houston, Texas.
According to a press release from ICE, the quantity of arrests within the past six months have surpassed the amount made by the Houston field office for the entire year of 2024. .
Among those arrested by ICE in the Houston area and deported within the past six months, five were described in detail in the press release. One of them was deported twice, two had been deported three times, and the other four times. Moreover, each of these men were charged or convicted of sexually assaulting minors and forthwith deported to their native countries in South America.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston acting Field Office Director Paul McBride commented on the arrests.
“Bringing together the resources and expertise of the entire federal law enforcement community to confront the overwhelming surge of illegal immigration that we saw over the past four years has resulted in the arrest and removal of historic numbers of violent criminal aliens, transnational gang members and child sex offenders,” McBride said. “While we still have a long way to go to truly get this crisis under control, the strides we have made in just six months to make our local communities safer are substantial, and our officers continue to work tirelessly every day to get the worst of the worst criminal aliens out of Southeast Texas to return our communities to places we can all enjoy.”
ICE also described its method of prioritizing the arrest and deportation of the most criminal illegal immigrants, with emphasis on those who’ve committed sexual assault on minors.
“The surge in arrests of illegal aliens charged with or convicted of child sex offenses is a direct result of a whole-of-government approach implemented under the current administration that led to the establishment of multiagency targeting teams in each area of responsibility,” the press release further stated. “These teams conduct daily enhanced immigration enforcement operations targeting the ‘worst of the worst’ criminal aliens for arrest and removal. In Southeast Texas, those efforts have resulted in an increase in arrests of all dangerous criminal aliens, leading to safer communities, stronger national security and enhanced border security.”
