NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 200 people in the New York City area in a week-long operation that federal officials said targeted undocumented immigrants convicted of or wanted for criminal offenses.
ICE said Thursday that the operation focused on NYC but also extended across Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley between April 6 and April 12, involving agencies like the FBI, ATF, DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Of the 206 people arrested, ICE said 121 had “significant” criminal convictions or were facing charges for crimes that include murder, assault, arson, sex crimes, drug crimes and firearms crimes. It wasn't immediately clear if the 85 others were convicted or suspected of crimes.
Some of those arrested were allegedly in transnational criminal organizations like MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Sureños and the 18th Street gangs.
The arrests included a Jamaican national convicted of manslaughter, an Ecuadoran national convicted of rape, and a Venezuelan national who’s a purported member of the Tren de Aragua gang, officials said.
According to ICE, “many” of those arrested had previously been released after local jurisdictions “refused to honor immigration detainers” on them.
ICE has ramped up operations in New York and elsewhere since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. NYC was at the forefront of the national conversation about the migrant crisis, drawing reaction from Trump and others who sought greater immigration enforcement as more than 230,000 migrants and asylum seekers arrived in the city.
While New York City is a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, Mayor Eric Adams has said he supports working with federal immigration officials to remove people wanted for criminal offenses.
Just this past week, the City Council sued the Adams administration over an executive order that allows ICE and other federal agencies to maintain an office at Rikers Island.
Immigrant rights groups and Adams’ critics have cast the order as a concerning quid pro quo after federal prosecutors dropped corruption charges against the Democratic mayor so he could help support Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
In a statement responding to the lawsuit, City Hall said in part, “a federal presence at Rikers to conduct federal criminal investigations is in New York City’s best interest and protects public safety, particularly in our ongoing efforts to target violent transnational gangs now present in our city, including those designated as terrorist organizations.”