Despite state opposition to arresting violent criminal foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and federal partners continue to apprehend them, including members of violent gangs and organized crime.
In one recent multi-agency interdiction effort spanning three days, ICE and multiple federal law enforcement partners arrested 44 people allegedly involved in illicit activities across six Central Valley counties spanning 210 miles. They include members of violent international gangs involved in drug trafficking, human smuggling, and other violent crimes, according to ICE. Federal agents also apprehended convicted sex offenders who illegally reentered the U.S. after having been previously deported and illegal foreign nationals facing federal criminal charges for immigration and other violations.
ICE noted that “Local and state law enforcement agencies were not involved in the operation due to California Senate Bill 54, which restricts cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration authorities,” adding that it “remains committed to working with its federal partners to combat organized crime and protect communities from violent criminal activity.”
In San Francisco, ICE agents working with FBI, DEA and others also conducted a multi-agency operation targeting Mexican cartel related narcotics and firearms distribution and other criminal threats in the South Lake Tahoe, California, region.
Among those targeted were Sureno and MS-13 gang members involved in drug and weapons trafficking with “convictions for possession for sale of narcotics or controlled substances, selling or modifying firearms, narcotics trafficking, DUI, false imprisonment, and possession of obscene material depicting minors in sexual conduct,” ICE announced. Those arrested face federal prosecution and removal from the U.S.
“Collaborative enforcement actions of this scale demonstrate a whole government approach with enhanced intelligence-driven investigations followed by coordinated law enforcement action,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations San Francisco acting Field Office Director Polly Kaiser said.
In Orange County, federal and local law enforcement officers also successfully targeted a Romanian organized ATM theft ring. ICE-Orange County agents, ICE’s Los Angeles El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, and multiple law enforcement partners, conducted county wide operations earlier this month.
Those arrested were conducting numerous unauthorized ATM transactions using counterfeit/cloned EBT cards at a range of financial institutions in Orange County, according to the investigation. ICE agents and local police identified and arrested 15 individuals on federal charges for the use/manufacturing of an access device with the intent to defraud as well as two state arrests.
Law enforcement officers also seized 42 counterfeit/cloned EBT cards and bulk U.S. currency.
In San Diego, ICE agents arrested and removed an aggravated felon and Mexican national who was illegally in the country after having been previously removed from the U.S. at least seven times. Jose Antonio Garcia was convicted by the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2007 for attempted murder and evading a peace officer resulting in death or injury, according to ICE. He was sentenced to 20 years in state prison. After his scheduled release from prison and Calipatria State Prison honored an ICE detainer request, he was deported for an eighth time.
San Diego ICE agents also arrested a Guatemalan citizen with a history of criminal offenses, including driving under the influence, hit-and-run causing death or injury, and conspiracy to file a fraudulent insurance claim. He illegally entered the U.S. after having been previously deported twice and remains in ICE custody pending his third removal.
Multiple Guatemalan nationals illegally living in the U.S. and arrested by ICE agents in Los Angeles were recently indicted for orchestrating a massive smuggling operation bringing roughly 20,000 Guatemalans into the U.S. illegally. One of the ring leaders also threatened to cut off the heads of an ICE task force officer and his family members, The Center Square reported.
