US immigration agency arrests dozens in Kansas, Missouri

Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 331 people during an operation targeting criminal aliens and other immigration violators in six Midwestern states.

Sixteen of the arrests were in Louisville and 12 in Lexington.

Authorities arrested 107 people in the Chicago area and 25 in the Indianapolis area.

Officials say the operation was to arrest and removed convicted criminals who were illegally in the US and those who had previously been deported, but returned.

Fifteen of the arrests were made in Wichita, with smaller numbers in Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hutchinson, Liberal Newton and Ulysses. It also covered Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri.

ERO officers arrested 39 men across Wisconsin.

One example was a 25-year-old Mexican national and documented Sur 13 gang member with a prior conviction for sexual assault with an outstanding deportation order. “The remaining 11 are agency priorities as recent border crossers. Ten of the 30 were previously deported from the United States and illegally re-entered”, the news release said. Thirty-seven are from Mexico, one is from Cuba and one is from El Salvador.

Ricardo Wong is the field officer director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Chicago.

The remaining individuals in ICE custody are either waiting for their hearings before an immigration judge, or waiting for travel arrangements for removal.