Jamaican, Cuban among 123 arrested in ICE operation targeting criminal immigrants

SAN ANTONIO — Federal officers with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) have arrested a Jamaican and Cuban  among 123 criminal immigrants and immigration violators throughout Central and South Texas during an eight-day enforcement action.

ICE said the unidentified Jamaican and Cuban nationals were arrested in the raids conducted in the towns of Austin, Waco, Harlingen, Laredo and San Antonio – all in the state of Texas.

Of those arrested, 115 were men and eight were women.

ICE reports that all immigrants targeted by ERO officers during this enforcement action had prior criminal convictions.

The majority of those arrested, 93, had criminal histories that included convictions for aggravated assault, assault, child abuse, domestic violence, cocaine possession, fraud, driving under the influence (DUI), drug trafficking, felony marijuana possession, illegal entry, illegal re-entry after deportation, larceny, possessing a controlled substance, and weapons possession.

Thirty were arrested on immigration violations, ICE said.

Besides Jamaica and Cuba, ICE said individuals arrested during the operation are from Mexico,Honduras Guatemala and El Salvador.

During the course of the operation, two immigrants had outstanding warrants, ICE said.

It said one immigrant was turned over to the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Task Force “due to an outstanding warrant for Alien Smuggling”.

The other was turned to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office based on an outstanding warrant for possessing marijuana.

“This operation was focused on targeting immigration fugitives and criminal aliens,” said Daniel Bible, field office director of ERO San Antonio.  “Public safety remains a top priory for ICE.  This was a focused eight-day enforcement operation over a large area, but we routinely conduct operations daily.”

ICE said all of the targets in the operation were “amenable to arrest and removal under the US Immigration and Nationality Act”.