ICE: Raid targeting ‘criminal aliens’ nabs 105 in New Jersey

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation targeting “criminal aliens” has led to the arrest of 105 people in New Jersey.
An ICE spokesperson says that the raids happened last week and targeted “at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and other immigration violators.” The spokesperson said that of those arrested, 80 percent had prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.
Officials say that the people arrested were citizens of the following countries and were living in the United States illegally: Brazil (6), Canada (1), Colombia (1), Costa Rica (1), Cuba (2), Dominican Republic (10), Ecuador (4), Egypt (1), El Salvador (8), Guatemala (13), Honduras (7), Jamaica (4), Korea (2), Mexico (28), Peru (4), Philippines (1), Poland (1), Russia (1), Serbia (1), Slovakia (2), Spain (1), Taiwan (1), Trinidad (1), and Venezuela (4).
The raids were held in Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties.
ICE says that the people range from age 18 to 65 years old.
Some of the crimes that the people were previously convicted for include sexual assault, theft, robbery, fraud, DUI and shoplifting.
“Our focus has been and will continue to be on arrests of illegal aliens who have been convicted of serious crimes or those who pose a threat to public safety,” says John Tsoukaris, director of the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New Jersey office.
ICE officials say that the raid was preplanned, and was not the result of New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s recent directive limiting local and state law enforcement cooperation with ICE.