IOPList.Org

Most Illegal Immigrants Arrested by ICE
in 2020 Had Average of Four Criminal
Convictions or Charges









The overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants arrested by federal
authorities in 2020 had an average of four criminal convictions or
charges, according to a year-end report published by the government.
In the document Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals
it arrested 103,603 illegal aliens last fiscal year with a total of more
than 374,000 convictions and charges. Driving under the influence
was the most popular conviction or charge at 74,000, followed by
drug crimes (67,000), assaults (37,000), sex offenses (10,000),
robberies (3,800), homicides (1,900) and kidnappings (1,600).

It doesn’t end there. An additional 185,884 illegal immigrants were
deported by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in 2020
and most of them—64%—had criminal convictions or pending
charges. In fact, they had a total of 399,235 criminal convictions
and pending charges, according to statistics provided by the
Homeland Security agency. Those removed from the country include
4,276 gang members, 675 of them from the famously violent
Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and 31 terrorists. ICE reports that 350
were considered “high-profile removals.” Among them is a Bosnian
named Saudin Agani who provided material support to a terrorist
organization and has ties to the suspect who attacked two New York City
police officers in 2020. “ERO Removal Division’s ICE Air Charter Operations
coordinated a record-breaking 76 Special High-Risk Charters to 61
countries, six of which were new countries it had not previously visited,”
the report says. Those countries include Jordan, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey,
Romania, and Mongolia, effectuating 3,278 removals. “This is a 160%
increase in total removals via Special High-Risk Charter flights compared
to FY 2019,” according to ICE.

The agency also issued 122,233 detainers last year with local law enforcement
agencies nationwide for illegal immigrants with criminal histories. More
than 1,900 committed homicide-related offenses, 3,600 robberies, 42,800
assaults and 11,900 sex crimes. The detainers are issued as part of a
federal-local partnership known as 287(g) that notifies ICE of jail inmates
in the country illegally so they can be deported after serving time for
state crimes. A growing number of leftist officials running local governments
around the country refuse to participate in the program, but 150 still do
and federal immigration authorities credit them with significantly improving
public safety. ICE says when law enforcement agencies fail to honor
immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the
streets, it undermines its ability protect public safety and carry out its
mission. Judicial Watch has reported extensively on some of the culprits,
providing outrageous examples that include elected law enforcement
officials freeing child sex offenders, major counties releasing numerous
violent convicts and a state—North Carolina—that discharged nearly
500 illegal immigrant criminals from custody in a year.

The problem continues as more local police departments refuse to comply
with 287(g). In the recently issued report ICE discloses that a two-month
program known as Operation Cross Check XI helped arrest more than
2,700 at-large individuals living illegally in the U.S. with pending charges
or convictions for crimes involving victims. That means the offenders
were likely protected by sanctuary policies. “Of the arrests conducted
during Operation Cross Check XI, there were more than 5,800 criminal
convictions and more than 3,200 pending charges associated with
those arrests,” the ICE report states. “The aliens who were the
subjects of these arrests had criminal histories including, but not
limited to, the following charges and convictions: more than 1,500
assaults, more than 340 sex crimes, nearly 200 weapon offenses,
more than 50 robberies and 31 homicide offenses.”

As if all this information was not enraging enough, the document
also reveals that the government spent a ghastly $315 million on
healthcare for illegal immigrants in custody last year. That includes
comprehensive medical, dental, and public health services. In 2020
the feds delivered health care to nearly 100,000 detainees at 20
facilities nationwide that have inhouse ICE Health Services Corps (IHSC)
and oversaw health care for more than 169,000 additional detainees
housed in facilities without IHSC. This includes 99,219 intake screenings,
3,048 emergency room visits,15,571 dental visits,19,367 urgent care
visits, 123,936 sick calls, 68,985 mental health interventions, 270,222
filled prescriptions and 52,278 physical exams. Adding to the expenses,
when COVID-19 hit, ICE created a working group of medical professionals,
disease control specialists and other experts to minimize the spread
of the virus.