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U.S. Officials Arrest 2,100 Fugitives and Immigration
Violators
By Michelle Austein
Washington File Staff Writer
Arrests made as part of Operation Return to
Sender,
agency saysJulie Myers, assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, June 14, 2006. (©AP/WWP)
Washington -- U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement
(ICE) agents apprehended more than 2,100 immigration
violators, gang members and fugitives in a
just-completed nationwide effort, according to Julie
L. Myers, assistant secretary for ICE. The initiative,
called Operation Return to Sender, began on May 26 and
concluded June 13.
Of the 2,179 people arrested in the operation,
about
half had criminal records for crimes including sexual
assault, assault with a deadly weapon and abduction.
"The fugitives captured in this operation
threatened
public safety in hundreds of neighborhoods and
communities around the country," said Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "This department
has no tolerance for their criminal behavior and we
are using every authority at our disposal to bring
focus to fugitive operations."
The majority of those apprehended were arrested
for
immigration violations. More than 800 of these people
were sent back to their home countries.
Those arrested on criminal charges will face
trial in
federal courts.
Those arrested in the operation came from
many
countries, including Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cape
Verde, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
El Salvador, Egypt, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala,
Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast,
Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Senegal,
Thailand, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
Operation Return to Sender is the latest
action taken
as part of the Department of Homeland Security's
interior immigration enforcement strategy
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