ICE arrests 45 illegal immigrants in Houston area

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 45 illegal aliens in the Houston area for violating U.S. immigration laws.

The arrests took place over a five-day period, which ended last Friday. At-large criminal aliens, many of whom had fled from prior immigration proceedings, were the target of the operation. Specifically, 15 had previously been deported, and 42 had prior criminal convictions, including several with felony convictions for rape, child exploitation, robbery, drug trafficking and assault.

“Our primary focus with conducting targeted immigration enforcement operations is to improve public safety by removing criminal aliens from our local communities,” ERO Houston Field Office Director Pat Contreras said. “The dedicated immigration enforcement officers who conducted the operation did just that by taking 42 dangerous criminal aliens off the streets.”

Among the arrests, 26 were in Houston, nine were in Conroe, two were in Cleveland, while one each were in Alvin, Tomball, the Woodlands, Texas City, Channelview, Clearlake, Baytown, and Bellville.

The individuals arrested were from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Cuba, Nigeria, India, Chile, and Turkey. One 29-year-old Turkish national was convicted of child exploitation, while another, a Honduran national, was convicted of rape. Further, a Mexican citizen was convicted of burglary and drug trafficking.

Some of these individuals will face federal criminal prosecution for illegal entry and illegal re-entry after deportation. Others will be detained in ICE custody and administratively processed for removal from the United States.