In a major sweep conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week, approximately 90 percent of the 212 illegal alien arrests were made on previously convicted criminal offenders, with a majority of the illegals turning out to be serious or violent criminals.

The extensive raids focused on illegal immigrants who have been hired illegally within certain areas of the Golden State, which currently has major economic problems with is large illegal Latino population putting a major strain on the education, law enforcement and health care systems across the state.

“Over the course of five days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officers and special agents made the arrests and served 122 notices of inspection (NOIs) to businesses in the Los Angeles area of responsibility,” Breitbart reported. “This is in addition to notices of inspection issued to 77 businesses in northern California just weeks ago.”

In the large-scale effort in Southern California, ICE put all of the targeted businesses on the spot to comply with the raids – or suffer the legal consequences.

“Federal deportation officers staged one of the biggest enforcement actions in years against businesses in Los Angeles this week,” Fox News reported. “[ICE indicated that it was] serving audit notices to 122 businesses that must prove they aren’t hiring illegals.”

Crime allowed back on the streets?

The overwhelming majority of the illegals who were arrested over the past several days were previously taken into custody during the eight years served in the White House by former President Barack Obama, whose pro-immigration policies often landed convicted illegal alien criminals back in the streets – a typical occurrence that happened under his ICE agents.

Oftentimes, the Obama administration’s lax border control policies allowed dangerous felons back into the U.S. in no time – once they were released from jail and deported back to Mexico.

“One hundred and ninety-five of the 212 arrested included convicted criminals – those who failed to leave the United States after being issued a final order of removal – and those who returned to the U.S. after being removed,” Breitbart’s Michelle Moons informed.

And a good majority of those taken into custody during the raid in California’s “City of Angels” were not angels or role model immigrants at all, but hardcore criminals taking advantage of the system while looking to inflict their harm on the state’s legal residents time and time again.

“More than 55 percent of those arrested were serious or violent felons or had been convicted on significant or multiple misdemeanors,” Moons pointed out. “Their crimes include child sex crimes, weapons charges and assault.”

In fact, the so-called “sanctuary city” policies implemented in Los Angeles and throughout California, which was recently declared a “sanctuary state” by far-left Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Calif.), have exacerbated the criminal illegal alien problem – making crime a growing problem in areas with high concentrations of immigrants who have entered the state illegally.

This problem was stressed by ICE Deputy Director Thomas D. Homan, who played a major role in orchestrating the latest illegal alien criminal sweep across L.A.

“Because sanctuary jurisdictions like Los Angeles prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, our officers are forced to conduct at-large arrests in the community, putting officers, the general public and the aliens at greater risk and increasing the incidents of collateral arrests,” Homan commented, according to Breitbart News. “[ICE focuses its enforcement efforts on individuals who] pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.”

The fact that California’s largest city is a sanctuary city – where Homan said local law enforcements’ frequent lack of cooperation forces his agents to physically go out into the community – made it a prime focus for ICE’s latest operation.

“ICE said it targeted Los Angeles because it’s a sanctuary city, meaning it refuses to fully cooperate with federal authorities on deportations from within its jails,” the Washington Times noted.

However, it was emphasized that ICE’s concentration on dangerous criminal aliens did not preclude other classes of illegal aliens from being targeted during last week’s raids.

Hitting violators in the pocketbooks

The federal agency’s latest sweep was described as an effort to work in coordination with local business owners in the Los Angeles area, where a variety of businesses were issued notices of inspection in a large operation to make the streets a safer place for Southern California residents.

“A notice of inspection alerts business owners that ICE is going to audit their hiring records to determine whether or not they are in compliance with the law,” ICE explained in a statement, according to Breitbart. “If the businesses are found to not be in compliance with the law, they will face civil fines and potential criminal prosecution.”

Under the new Trump administration, ICE is taking more preventative measures to ensure safety on the streets, which will reportedly drive down costs caused by continued criminal activity.

“Fewer jail arrests mean more arrests on the street, and that also requires more resources, which is why we are forced to send additional resources to those areas to meet operational needs and officer safety,” Homen continued. “Consistent with our public safety mission, 88 percent of those arrested during this operation were convicted criminals.”

Those who were arrested in this latest sweep will likely suffer a different and more serious fate than what criminal aliens were dealt under the lax policies implemented by federal agents and local law enforcement under the Obama administration.

“Some of the 212 arrested this week will face federal criminal prosecution, while others will be processed for removal from the United States,” Moons noted.

As ICE is making progress in Los Angeles and other sanctuary cities, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are still grappling over key immigration policies that could determine the fate of more illegal aliens.

“The actions and notices came even as Congress was debating – and failing to pass – legislation that would have legalized about a sixth of the illegal immigrant population in the U.S.,” the Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan announced.