84 percent of illegal immigrants arrested by ICE in Houston operation had criminal convictions, charges in US

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a news release that of the 543 arrested who had criminal charges since entering the country, 140 had been charged with or convicted of aggravated or violent felonies such as homicide, domestic violence, or aggravated assault; 93 were charged with or convicted of driving while intoxicated; 52 were charged with the offenses related to the possession of illicit narcotics; and 51 had been convicted of or charged with property crimes such as theft or burglary.

An additional 38 criminal illegal immigrants had been charged with or convicted of illegal firearm offenses such as aggravated assault with a firearm, unlawful carrying of a firearm, and alien in possession of a firearm. 34 of those arrested had also been charged with or convicted of a sex offense or child sex offense.

The enforcement operation took place between February 23 and March 2 in the Houston, Texas area.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said in a statement, "In recent years, some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members and criminal aliens have taken advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to illegally enter the US."

"After illegally entering the country, many of these criminal aliens have gone on to commit violent crime and reign terror on law-abiding residents," he added. "Fueled by our unwavering commitment to protect the public from harm, and united in our determination to restore integrity to our nation’s system of laws, ICE and our law enforcement partners in Southeast Texas have banded together to remove these dangerous criminal aliens from our local communities and put an end to the lawlessness that they spread," Bradford said.

Assisting in the operation was US Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Diplomatic Security Service, the US Marshals Service, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other state and local law enforcement agencies.

“In just one week working alongside our counterparts from federal, state and local law enforcement, ICE HSI special agents successfully executed 71 criminal arrest warrants and made 554 administrative arrests that included illegally present human smugglers, gang members, human traffickers, child sex offenders, drug traffickers and weapons traffickers,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz.

"These collective efforts have made our local communities significantly safer and strengthened our national security and border security. As a result, we’ve sent a resounding message to transnational criminal organizations everywhere that the law enforcement community in the Texas Gulf Coast is more united than ever and will not rest until we’ve eradicated these criminal elements from the country," he added.