(The Center Square) – Within a month of President Donald Trump entering office, Arkansas made history arresting 375 illegal foreign nationals as part of the state’s largest enforcement effort. A comprehensive bill was also filed to crack down on illegal border crosser crime.
“Violent criminal illegals have no place in Arkansas and under this administration we will make sure that they are held accountable,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a news conference this week. “Over the past four years, we saw the most catastrophic border crisis in American history. Day after day, month after month, millions of unvetted illegal immigrants entered the United States from practically every country on earth.”
Under the Biden administration, a record more than 14 million illegal border crossers were reported, including those who evaded capture, The Center Square exclusively reported. Among them were nearly 2,000 on the federal terrorist watchlist and hundreds of thousands of criminals, The Center Square reported.
In a three-week period, from Feb. 5 through Feb. 27, 219 illegal foreign nationals were arrested, U.S. attorneys for the eastern and western districts of Arkansas announced.
They were all in the U.S. illegally, citizens of 23 countries. From Jan. 21 through Feb. 27, a total of 375 were arrested, the attorneys said.
After Trump issued multiple executive orders to advance border security efforts, including a Department of Justice directive to pursue the death penalty, a multi-agency operation began in Arkansas. It includes the state’s U.S. attorney’s offices, the DEA, FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals, the Arkansas State Police and all 19 Arkansas Judicial Drug Task Forces.
Partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, their objective is to target “cartels and other transnational criminal organizations which have created unsafe borders and huge flows of illegal immigration in violation of U.S. law;” violent crimes committed by “members of these organizations and illegal aliens;” and the fentanyl crisis and opioid epidemic, U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross for the Eastern District said.
Operation Enforce and Remove targeted known offenders identified for removal who have previous encounters with law enforcement. Some were previously convicted of crimes, including “battery, aggravated assault, robbery, drug possession and distribution, domestic violence, sexual assault, illegal firearm possession, running an illegal casino, forgery, hit-and-run, indecent exposure, and sexual assault against a minor.”
Simultaneous to immigration enforcement, drug task forces arrested 253 individuals suspected of committing drug crimes, seized dozens of firearms and nearly 15,000 pounds of illegal drugs worth millions of dollars. Seizures included 225 pounds of methamphetamine, 65 pounds of cocaine, 14,542 pounds of marijuana, 2,681 fentanyl pills and 90 grams of fentanyl powder.
Overall, 472 arrests were made, including U.S. citizens. Their arrests represent “the first, but not last, collaborative federal and state law enforcement effort designed to carry out the Department of Justice’s mission, and help keep all Arkansans safe,” the U.S. attorneys said.
As these efforts continue, state Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester and state Rep. Frances Cavenaugh filed the Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act. It would amend state law to enhance felony penalties for crimes committed by illegal foreign nationals in Arkansas.
It also would expand the state’s ban on so-called sanctuary cities to include unincorporated areas and counties. Local jurisdictions that adopt sanctuary policies would forfeit state grant money impacting local governments, courts and jails. It also would require the Arkansas Department of Corrections and local law enforcement agencies to participate in ICE’s 287 (g) Warrant Service Officer program to assist ICE with deportations.
The bill “is our state’s plan to hold violent criminal illegal immigrants accountable for their crimes,” Sanders said. It “will slap enhanced penalties on illegal immigrants who commit additional crimes while in our state, will expand our sanctuary city ban so that no place in Arkansas including unincorporated areas and counties, can be a safe harbor for illegals. We will mandate that Arkansas law enforcement participate in the federal 287 program so that we cooperate better with ICE and expedite deportations.”
Sanders was among 25 Republican governors that supported Texas’ border security mission, Operation Lone Star, sending National Guard troops to Texas. Now that Trump is in office, she said, “After only a few months in office, President Trump has brought law and order back to our country and Arkansas will continue to partner with them and help lead the way.”
Under the Trump administration, illegal border crossings dropped by over 90% in one month and reached the lowest number in February in recorded U.S. history.
