Jamaican among sexual predators nabbed by immigration agents in NY
Published:Friday | November 8, 2019 | 11:37 AM
NEW YORK, CMC – The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says its officers arrested a Jamaican among 23 sexual predators during a six-day operation in Long Island, New York.
On Thursday, ICE said that the enforcement effort, dubbed “Operation SOAR” (Sex Offender Alien Removal), ended on November 2.
The agency did not identify the Jamaican but said that, in the course of the operation, deportation officers apprehended the individuals with past criminal convictions, ranging from sexual abuse to rape.
Several of those arrested are registered sexual offenders, ICE said.
It said that each taken into custody is currently being detained pending the completion of removal proceedings, criminal prosecution or removal from the United States.
Besides Jamaica, ICE said the arrestees include nationals from Canada, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, and Portugal.
Deportation officers made arrests throughout Long Island, specifically in Nassau County: Mineola, Port Washington, Roosevelt, Uniondale; and in Suffolk County: Brentwood, Central Islip, Copiague, Huntington Station, Manorville, Riverhead, Rocky Point, Wheatley Heights and Wyandanch.
Additionally, ICE said two arrests were made in Brooklyn, and one each in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens – counties in New York City.
ICE said the Jamaican arrested in Uniondale is a 52-year-old with a prior US federal conviction for receiving material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor for which a sentence of 120 months imprisonment was imposed.
“When we talk about the safety of our communities, it should not be politics, it should be common sense,” said Thomas R. Decker, field office director for ERO New York.
“We arrested nearly two dozen convicted sex offenders this past week, including many who conducted heinous acts against children, and could have been turned over to ICE instead of released back into our neighborhoods,” he added.
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