ICE Arrests Over 150 in Raids Across Northern California
ICE officials criticized Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's decision to alert the public about the arrests
By Riya Bhattacharjee and Damian Trujillo | Feb 27, 2018
Dozens of undocumented immigrants have been arrested across Northern California since Sunday, according to federal officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations.
More than 150 people who are in violation of federal U.S. immigration laws have been arrested since Sunday, ICE confirmed Tuesday.
According to ICE spokesperson James Schwab, federal ICE and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers have been conducting targeted immigration enforcement in the San Francisco Bay Area "consistent with federal law and agency policy, to arrest individuals who have violated U.S. immigration laws."
The arrests were made based on leads developed by the local field office in conjunction with the National Criminal Analysis and Targeting center (NCATC), Schwab said.
About half of the individuals arrested have criminal convictions in addition to immigration violations, including convictions for assault/battery, crimes against children, weapons charges and DUI, he added.
"This operation is a continuation of ICE’s efforts to prioritize enforcement against public safety threats," Schwab said.
“Sanctuary jurisdictions like San Francisco and Oakland shield dangerous criminal aliens from federal law enforcement at the expense of public safety," said ICE Deputy Director Thomas D. Homan. "Because these jurisdictions prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, they also force ICE officers to make more arrests out in the community, which poses increased risks for law enforcement and the public."
Honan also criticized Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's decision to alert the public about ICE operations, saying it "further increased that risk for my officers and alerted criminal aliens — making clear that this reckless decision was based on her political agenda with the very federal laws that ICE is sworn to uphold.”
"Thanks to the dedicated and professional work of ICE deportation officers, we were able to remove many public safety threats from the streets of the Bay Area during the past few days," Honan said.
"However, 864 criminal aliens and public safety threats remain at large in the community, and I have to believe that some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor’s irresponsible decision. Unlike the politicians who attempt to undermine ICE’s critical mission, our officers will continue to fulfill their sworn duty to protect public safety.”
Those arrested include 38-year-old ICE fugitive Armando Nuñez-Salgado, a Mexican citizen and documented Sureño gang member previously removed by ICE on four prior occasions. Nuñez-Salgado has prior criminal convictions in California over the past 18 years resulting in prison sentences totaling 15 years. His convictions include assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, hit-and-run causing injury and evading a peace officer.
In a similar operation earlier this month in Los Angeles, 88 percent of those arrested by ICE were convicted criminals. In 2017, ICE arrested 20,201 undocumented immigrants throughout California – 81 percent of whom were convicted criminals.
In a statement, ICE clarified: "ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately, and the agency prioritizes public and national security threats, immigration fugitives and illegal reentrants. However, all of those in violation of immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States"
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/loc...Raids-Fueling-Fear-in-Bay-Area-475347563.html