ICE arrests 123 criminal aliens in New Jersey

There is a lot of focus in the political class about the effects of mass migration on the illegal immigrants themselves, but there is not much focus on the criminals we are letting in who harm Americans. To get a sense of the magnitude of the criminal alien problem in this country, consider that ICE just arrested 123 criminal aliens in one operation in New Jersey, a state where the local officials don’t readily hand over those charged with crimes to federal immigration officials.

On Monday, ICE announced it had completed a month-long operation in New Jersey to arrest 123 illegal aliens, of which “90 percent had prior criminal convictions and/or pending criminal charges.” The majority of those targeted were illegal aliens who were previously arrested or convicted for DUI. However, the criminal histories were vast and diverse.

“Some individuals also had arrests or convictions for sexual assault on a minor, child abuse, possession of narcotics, distribution of narcotics, fraud, criminal restraint, domestic violence, possession of a weapon, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, endangering the welfare of a child, fraud, promoting gambling, shoplifting, burglary, forgery and illegal reentry,” announced ICE in a press release.

Many of the individuals who had prior DUI offenses were also charged or convicted for other grave crimes, and some were also previously deported and re-entered illegally. For example, a 38-year-old previously deported Mexican national had a conviction for DUI and indecent assault of a minor. A 39-year-old Mexican national had a prior conviction for DUI plus endangering sexual contact with a minor. A 42-year-old previously deported Ecuadorian illegal alien had a prior conviction for criminal sexual contact and a recent arrest for DUI.

In December, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued a directive banning law enforcement from, among other things, participating “in civil immigration enforcement operations conducted by ICE” and providing “ICE with access to state or local law enforcement resources, including equipment, office space, databases, or property, unless those resources are readily available to the public.” What this does, in effect, is keep ICE in the dark when most illegal aliens are arrested for DUI, drug trafficking, and even sexual assault.

Even those illegal aliens detained by local law enforcement in New Jersey “with violent or serious offenses – such as murder, rape, arson, assault, bias crimes, and domestic violence offenses,” may only be held for ICE until 11:59 p.m. of that day!

A spokesman for ICE-ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) in Newark told me that while none of these cases involved ICE detainers, “all 123 individuals were arrested by ICE without any assistance from the state or local authorities.” It is shocking that so many dangerous criminals who are arrested and even convicted for dangerous crimes like drug trafficking, DUI, and sexual assault on minors are not immediately turned over to ICE. Yet clearly, many of these individuals were allowed to remain in the state, despite previous deportations, because ICE was never notified. Aside from denying ICE detainers, sanctuary jurisdictions that fail to share databases and notification with ICE prevent the feds from even knowing about these people when they are arrested. If not for ICE taking the initiative to investigate and find these criminals, they would still be at large today.

While ICE tries to go it alone in interior enforcement, it is also hampered by the lack of border security. With our agents tied down dealing with bogus asylum claims, all of these individual criminal aliens who are being apprehended and deported by ICE have almost a free lane through the obscure parts of our border.

Just last Friday, Del Rio sector agents arrested a 47-year-old Honduran man attempting to cross in Eagle Pass who was previously convicted in Georgia for child molestation and was deported. Last Wednesday, a 34-year-old Mexican was indicted for re-entering after being deported years ago for “indecent liberty with a child.” He was only caught because Beaumont, Texas, police pulled him over for a traffic violation. Texas officials cooperated with ICE, but California officials never turned over Gustavo Arriaga, the murderer of police officer Ronil Singh, who was charged twice with DUI.

Last week, Tucson Border Patrol announced, “Last month, more than a dozen illegal aliens, who had committed heinous crimes in at least eight U.S. states were arrested by Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents as they tried to sneak back into the country.” Most of them were convicted for sexual crimes against minors. Also last week, a prior deported alien was arrested on 100 accounts of child pornography. Another illegal re-entrant was arrested last week in Fayetteville, North Carolina, for indecently touching an 11-year-old.

On March 24, 33-year-old Jorge Alberto Rios-Doblado, an illegal alien from Honduras who was twice deported, allegedly raped and strangled a Peruvian immigrant to death in Jersey City. Given the magnets to come to New Jersey and evade detection, one has to wonder how many more of these murders and sexual assaults will occur.

According to DHS, as of 2013, which was before most of the surge from Central America, there were an estimated two million criminal aliens at large in the country. The Senate has yet to bring a single piece of legislation to the floor dealing with sanctuary cities, criminal alien apprehensions, judicial defiance against immigration laws, or stiffening penalties against re-entrants (Kate’s Law). Yes, there is a national security crisis and a humanitarian crisis. But first and foremost, our government is responsible for solving the humanitarian crisis for Americans and legal immigrants living in this country before trying to solve the problems of Central Americans.

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