According to an ICE news release, the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) apprehended 138 illegals who were convicted of sex offenses, including several with an executable final order of removal, during a nationwide enforcement effort from Oct. 22 through Nov. 4.
“Crimes of sexual violence are among the most underreported in the United States — anyone can be a victim of this type of abuse, and our officers are dedicated to locating and apprehending known noncitizen offenders as part of their public safety mission,” said ERO Executive Associate Director Corey A. Price.
“ERO will continue efforts such as these to remove unlawfully present individuals who have committed crimes against the innocent so they cannot continue to harm vulnerable populations within our communities.”
The ICE press release went on to say that this enforcement operation was implemented to address illegal aliens present here in the US who have been convicted of sex offenses. The release then provided a lengthy list of those arrested by agents in the operation.
Offenders included a 65-year-old Mexican convicted of continuous sex abuse of a child in March this year, a Guatemalan arrested in Chicago who had a conviction for predatory criminal sexual assault of a minor, and a 49-year-old Cameroon national convicted of sexual abuse in June.
Additionally, agents arrested a Bolivian in New York with a conviction of first-degree rape, a Mexican in Texas with a conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child, and a Nicaraguan in California with convictions for assault with intent to rape, second-degree robbery, and rape with force/violence/fear of bodily injury.
These arrests come despite the Biden administration’s soft immigration policies that have limited ICE’s enforcement capabilities as well as allowed the vile sex offenders to get in and remain in the country in the first place.
Guidance issued by the White House in 2021 limited ICE to focus on aggravated felons, national security threats, and recent border crossers. That guidance coincided with a sharp drop in deportations and arrests of illegal immigrants.
Earlier this year, in response to a lawsuit from Republican states, that guidance was blocked. However, while that guidance was in effect, ICE has conducted similar operations to bring in and remove sex offenders, and there were 3,415 sexual assault offenses associated with arrests it made in FY 2021.