Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) completed a four-day sweep across Southern California looking for illegal immigrants with criminal records. The sweep netted 244 arrests, with the majority having violent felony convictions, including weapons, drugs and sexual charges, according to the Los Angeles Times.
ICE officials claim it was the most successful operation of its kind in the country.
While the majority captured were from Mexico (191) the remainder came from an assortment of 21 different countries, including France, Ghana, Peru and Thailand, the agency said, according to the Tribune-Courier.
ICE's National Fugitive Operations led the sweep. This team is responsible for finding illegals who fail to comply with their deportation orders.
Out of last year's 27,000 illegals arrested, 78 percent had criminal pasts, according to data collected by ICE. Some of those arrested will be scheduled to go before an immigration judge, according to the International Business Times, but those that have deportation orders already, or returned illegally after last deportation, are eligible for immediate deportation.
Included among the arrests was a Salvadoran national arrested in Sunland during the sweep had been convicted on two criminal counts of child sex abuse in Los Angeles County just last year, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Another arrested was a 35-year-old Mexico native who was convicted in 2002 for sexual abuse with force, in New York. After serving his time and deported, he was picked up in this federal sting at his home in Santa Ana. He will be prosecuted for felony re-entry after removal from the U.S., according to federal authorities.
