Associated Press
August 31, 2015
Immigration
agents arrested more than 240 people with criminal records during a
four-day sting in Southern California, authorities said Monday in a show
of force that
comes as fewer people are being deported.
Slightly
more than half of the 244 people arrested last week had felony
convictions and the rest had significant or multiple misdemeanor
convictions, according to U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency said those numbers
underscore an emphasis on deporting immigrants who commit crimes in the
United States or pose a public safety threat.
Those who aren't criminally prosecuted were to be placed in deportation proceedings.
Nearly
eight of 10 arrested were from Mexico, with the rest from 20 other
countries. Los Angeles County accounted for the largest number of
arrests with 99, followed by
Orange County at 55, San Bernardino County with 43, Riverside County
with 24, Santa Barbara County with 20, and San Luis Obispo County with
3.
The
sting, which ended Thursday, comes as the federal government meets
resistance from local law enforcement agencies to cooperate on
immigration enforcement, a trend
that captured widespread attention after a 32-year-old woman was
fatally shot in San Francisco by a man with an extensive criminal and
immigration history.
ICE
removed 102,224 people from the interior of the county during the 2014
fiscal year — a 24 percent decline from the previous year — and those
numbers are expected to
drop again in 2015. ICE said its numbers fell last year partly because
state and local law enforcement agencies were refusing to hold people
when immigration authorities asked.
ICE
spokeswoman Virginia Kice said all 244 arrested last week were arrested
in the community, as opposed to being held by local law enforcement at
ICE's request. The agency
didn't offer a detailed account of their criminal records in a press
release but said one had been convicted in 2002 of sexual abuse with
force and another had been sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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