(The Center Square) – Within a week of President Donald Trump being sworn into office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers working with multiple federal agencies are arresting nearly 1,000 people every day set to be deported.
On Jan. 26, federal agents arrested 956 illegal border crossers and made 554 detainer requests with local jails, ICE reported. On Jan. 27, they arrested 1,179 foreign nationals in the country illegally and made 853 detainer requests. The agency is publishing daily updates on social media.
Those working with ICE include agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Marshals Service.
On Sunday, Jan. 26, they began “conducting enhanced targeted operations in Chicago to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” ICE said.
Federal agents in Chicago have arrested multiple sex offenders and violent gang members, including a Thai national in the country illegally with sex crime charges. Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan said his arrest “was an example of sanctuary cities. We’ve got an illegal alien convicted of sex crimes against children and he’s walking the streets of Chicago. Again, the problem with sanctuary cities is that people like this are walking the streets instead of local law enforcement working with federal agents.”
Homan also refutes claims made by Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and Illinois Gov. Pritzker that ICE agents were raiding public schools. Martinez told MSNBC last week that ICE agents went to Hamline Elementary School when it was really Secret Service agents went there to conduct an investigation.
Federal agents arrest illegal foreign nationals in Miami suburb.
Martinez also said public school principals, security guards, and front office staff were instructed not to share any information with ICE agents.
“Peter Martinez lied,” Homan told Fox News. “He knew it was Secret Service agents because I talked to the people involved. They left their credentials. He knew exactly who was there.”
Homan also criticized Pritzker for criticizing him on social media, accusing him “of terrifying the community.”
“No, he terrified the community. He terrified the children. You know what ICE, yesterday they saved children,” Homan said.
In Denver, on Jan. 22, ICE agents arrested a Mexican national with pending felony drug charges who faces removal. Denver Police also assisted with the case, ICE said.
On Jan. 22, federal agents arrested an alleged MS-13 gang member in New York City who is wanted in El Salvador on extortion charges. The next day, federal agents arrested an alleged sex trafficker in Buffalo who overstayed his visa.
Regardless of the administration, ICE agents prioritize arresting the most violent offenders to get them off of the streets. Under the Biden administration and in sanctuary cities, apprehensions were made more difficult by law enforcement officers who ignored ICE detainer requests, The Center Square reported.
Ahead of Trump’s swearing in, ICE ERO-Boston agents arrested a twice-convicted sex offender from Jamaica after the Connecticut Department of Corrections ignored its immigration detainer request. He was convicted of sexually assaulting two children and tampering with evidence. The correctional facility refused to honor an ICE detainer request and released him into the public. It took longer for ICE agents to find and arrest him, as is the case when detainer requests are ignored.
ICE ERO-Boston agents also arrested a Haitian national and confirmed member of a violent Haitian street gang who racked up 17 violent crime convictions in Massachusetts over a period of 10 years, including multiple drug, weapons, and assault and battery crimes. He legally entered the U.S. in 2013 in Miami but violated the terms of his admission and was a target for removal.
When arrested, he swore at officers, saying, “F— Trump … Biden forever … Thank Obama for everything he did for me. I’m not going back to Haiti.”
In response, Homan told Fox News, “He’s wrong. He’s going back to Haiti.”
In Houston, on Jan. 23, ICE agents repatriated an accused child rapist to Mexico after he illegally entered the US four times. Mexican authorities assisted with the arrest as the man is wanted in Veracruz.
In Miami on Sunday, multiple arrests were made in local neighborhoods where violent offenders were living among US residents.
ICE is encouraging members of the public to report suspicious activity by calling 1-866-DHS-2-ICE; to report crimes to 1-877-4-HIS-TIP; and make tips online at DHS.gov/hsi/tipline.
ICE says it is not providing a $750 reward for tips it receives contrary to some claims it says are false about its operations.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
