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Immigration sweep in Florida nets 73 with criminal records
Immigration agents fanned across the state for a week ending Monday and arrested 73 men and women with criminal records, who now face deportation, officials say.
The arrests were part of “Operation Cross Check,” an enforcement action that began under the Obama Administration and runs periodically throughout the country. In 2015, agents arrested 168 immigrants in Florida, 116 of whom were from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
This year’s action, which ran from April 18-24, snagged 32 immigrants from South Florida, 16 each from Broward and Miami Dade.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the targets of the arrests may or may not have been in the country legally, but all have been convicted of crimes.
A Bahamian citizen living in Miami was in the U.S. lawfully since 1983, but he became subject to deportation when he was convicted in 1995 of sexual assault, burglary, robbery and kidnapping.
A Jamaican citizen living in Oakland Park legally was convicted of attempted sexual battery in 2015.
Others were convicted of less serious crimes including driving under the influence, driving without a license, petty theft and trespass.
And some were not in the U.S. legally, such as a Mexican citizen living in Miami who has already been deported twice. His criminal record includes convictions for cocaine possession and aggravated assault on a family member with a weapon.
Criminal convictions subject immigrants to deportation whether they are in the country legally or not.
“Thirteen of those detained during the action are previously removed individuals who may be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for felony re-entry after deportation,” said Marc Moore, field office director for the Miami Field Office of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations.
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