Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have announced its officers arrested 82 illegal immigrants – a majority with criminal convictions – from 26 countries during a five-day sweep late last month in Washington, D.C. and Virginia.
According to the agency, 68 of those scooped up in the raids had previous convictions for crimes like armed robbery, larceny and drug distribution.
Of the remaining 14, two had ties to the MS-13 street gang – which, according to an NBC affiliate – has been linked to several murders in the D.C. area; two had outstanding final orders of removal; three had overstayed their visas; one was wanted by a foreign law enforcement entity; one was a verified human rights violator and two had pending local charges, ICE said in its news releae.
One of those arrested included a second lieutenant in command of the Somalian National Security Service, an organization known for human rights abuses, rape, torture and extrajudicial killings, ICE reported. He also has a felony drug conviction.
"ICE conducts targeted immigrate enforcement operations focused on criminal aliens," Enforcement and Removal Operations' Washington field director, Yvonne Evans, said in a statement.
She added the violators had a "variety of criminal convictions ranging from driving under the influence to grand larceny."
According to the release, those arrest were from countries including Algeria, Bolivia, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Iran, Jamaica, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, Somalia, South Korea, Sudan, Trinidad, Vietnam and Sierra Leone.
The Daily Caller reported that Virginia's Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine blasted an ICE operation in February after agents nabbed two men leaving a shelter in Alexandria.
Kaine is one of the co-sponsors of a bill to block immigration agents from staking out locations like schools, hospitals and religious institutions without prior approval and urgent circumstances.