PHILADELPHIA — A total of 248 foreign nationals were arrested over the last two weeks in the states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at criminal aliens, immigration fugitives, re-entrants and other immigration violators.
“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 ERO Philadelphia Acting Field Office Director Jennifer Ritchey.
“These regional operations may result in arrests of individuals other than those initially targeted. Many of these individuals were criminals, who had illegally re-entered the United States, which is a crime under federal law. One of the most egregious individuals encountered during this operation that had not initially been targeted had been deported from the United States on two prior occasions and had a conviction for sexual abuse of a minor,” said Ritchey.
- 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 re-entry after removal and document fraud
- 18 were immigration fugitives with outstanding final orders of removal issued by a federal immigration judge
