Making good on the president's campaign pledge to target illegal immigrants with criminal records or facing charges, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tuesday announced the arrest of 248 in just three states, including 50 previously deported.

ICE officials said that the arrests by Enforcement and Removal Operations were in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware. They occurred Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 through Friday, Mar. 10, 2017.

"ICE officers make extraordinary efforts to keep our communities safe, and this operation is just a small example of what they do every day. ERO officers took oaths to protect the homeland and to arrest individuals in violation of immigration laws," said ERO Philadelphia Acting Field Office Director Jennifer Ritchey in a statement. "This operation resulted in multiple arrests of individuals with violent criminal arrests or convictions in the three-state region," she added.

ICE Photo

The focus was Philadelphia, a so-called "sanctuary city" that has been refusing to comply with ICE demands that city law enforcement detain illegals for arrest.

"In the Philadelphia area, ICE arrested several at large criminal aliens in which the agency had issued detainers but the City of Philadelphia failed to honor them and released the individuals from custody — a situation that puts the public at unnecessary risk. ICE will continue to conduct targeted enforcement operations, whether local jurisdictions intend to cooperate with ICE or not," said Ritchey.

Key highlights in the ICE statement:

— 120 had a conviction and/or pending charges or 48 percent (88 of those arrested had criminal convictions and 32 of those arrested have pending criminal charges).

— In addition, 50 had been previously removed from the United States and subsequently illegally re-entered.

— Six have been accepted for prosecution by United States Attorneys' Offices for charges including reentry after removal and document fraud.

— 18 were immigration fugitives with outstanding final orders of removal issued by a federal immigration judge.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com