Immigration officers arrest dozens in Central South Texas

Immigration officers arrested 52 criminal aliens and immigration violators during a four-day operation in Central and South Texas.

The sweep ended last Thursday.

Sixteen of the arrests were made in the Austin-Waco area, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a press release Monday.

ICE officers arrested a 25-year-old Mexican illegal alien on June 18 in Waco who had a conviction for driving while intoxicated.

He was wanted in McLennan County for evading arrest in a vehicle and was turned over to county authorities, ICE said.

One that case has been adjudicated, he’ll be remanded to ICE for removal from the U.S., based on a Feb. 5 order by a federal immigration judge officials said.

On June 19, ICE officers arrested a 34-year-old Mexican illegal alien in Killeen who has two separate convictions for assault causing bodily injury of a family member.

A federal immigration judge had ordered him removed from the U.S. on Feb. 28 and ICE officers returned him to Mexico the same day he was arrested.

Officers also arrested nine in the Rio Grande Valley, seven in San Antonio and 20 in Laredo.

Six were women, 46 were men and 35 of them “had prior criminal histories that included convictions and/or pending charges” for such crimes as assault, domestic violence, traffic offenses, drug possession and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, ICE said.

“ICE’s primary immigration enforcement effort is to target criminal aliens, public safety threats and individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” said Daniel Bible, field office director for enforcement and removal operations in San Antonio.

“Our ICE officers provide a valuable public service by removing criminal aliens who pose a threat to their own immigrant communities, and they carry out the orders of federal immigration judges. There are 35 fewer criminals in our communities because of the efforts of our professional and dedicated officers.”