ICE arrests 75 in North Texas and Oklahoma areas during 4-day operation targeting criminal aliens and immigration fugitives that ended on June 6, 2019. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

ICE Apprehends 934 Illegal Aliens in Raids, Delivers Inspection Notices to Check Hiring Records of Businesses in 50 States

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has apprehended 934 illegal aliens who have final removal orders but are still in the country. ICE has also delivered notices of inspection to businesses to check their hiring records in all 50 states.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a comprehensive interior enforcement initiative—targeting charged or convicted criminals (operation cross-check), those on the accelerated docket with final removal orders ordered by a judge in absentia, and worksite violators,” an ICE spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

The ICE officials announced the results of the comprehensive interior enforcement actions on July 23.

While 899 illegal immigrants were apprehended during Operation Cross-check from May 13 through July 11, 35 were arrested during Operation Border Resolve that started several weeks ago and will continue in perpetuity.

ICE arrests 140 criminal aliens and immigration violators in 5-day enforcement surge in 6 Midwestern states https://t.co/gP2mm70HNk Way to go ICE! — Pam (@Pam93592944) June 11, 2019

Among the 899 apprehended, 605 have criminal convictions and 93 have pending criminal charges.

The spokesperson said ICE periodically conducts targeted fugitive operations called “Operation Cross Check” nationally and locally through its 24 field offices.

“These … target public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, and individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws, including those who re-entered the country after being deported and immigration fugitives, ordered deported by federal immigration judges,” said the spokesperson.

San Diego ERO officers from the San Diego Fugitive Operations Team conducting Operation Cross Check VII from July 7 – 11, 2019. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

The Operation Border Resolve targets “individuals who entered the country as unaccompanied alien children (UACs) and family units,” according to an earlier release by the ICE.

The first Operation Border Resolve happened in January and February 2016 “in response to the significant spike in families and unaccompanied alien children coming from across the southern border.”

During the next one, in 2017, ICE apprehended 650 individuals during a four-day operation.

Louie Zamora, acting field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Chicago said in an earlier release that criminal illegal aliens are a threat to their own immigrant communities.

ICE arrests 52 in South, Central Texas during a 4-day enforcement surge https://t.co/uUZiFEMy90 pic.twitter.com/LAoo5oJLuJ — ICE (@ICEgov) June 24, 2019

“Our ICE officers provide a valuable public service by removing criminal aliens who pose a threat to their own immigrant communities,” said Zamora. “They also enforce U.S. immigration laws by carrying out the orders of federal immigration judges.”

In another release issued on the arrest of 20 illegal aliens, Field Office Director Gregory Archambeault said these operations protect the nation.

“Targeted operations like this reflect the vital public service that ERO officers do every day to protect the nation, uphold public safety and protect the integrity of our immigration laws and border control,” he said. “We will continue to conduct similar operations while seeking to ultimately remove criminal aliens with a final order of removal and other immigration fugitives who pose a threat to public safety.”

Stock image of Homeland Security Investigators. (Media Release/ICE)

Notice of Inspection to Businesses

ICE delivered 3282 notices of inspection to businesses across 50 states and in Puerto Rico from July 15 to July 19, according to the spokesperson.

These notices alerted “the business owners that their hiring records would be audited to determine whether they are complying with existing laws.”

These inspections are regulated by the Immigration Reform and Control Act that requires employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of their employees. An employer violating these faces civil or criminal sanctions.