ICE roundup hits Mercer County
Officials arrested more than a 100 “criminal aliens” as part of a five-day sweep conducted last week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE said Tuesday the majority of those hauled in had prior felony convictions. Immigration arrests under the Trump administration have jumped up 40 percent nationwide this year.
“We continue focus on the arrest of individuals who are criminal and are a threat to public safety and national security,” said John Tsoukaris, who is in charge of Enforcement and Removal in Newark.
Of the 101 undocumented immigrants arrested, ranging in age from 20 to 71 years old, 18 were from the Dominican Republican and 15 from Mexico, including a Mexican national with a prior conviction for sexual assault on a minor.
Six were bagged in Mercer County, officials said, without specifying whether they hailed from Trenton. Most arrests came in Hudson, 15, followed by Essex (14), and Camden and Middlesex both had 11.
The ICE roundups haven’t been without controversy or heavy-handed rhetoric.
Earlier this year, the immigration enforcement agency called out Burlington County for failing to keep an Brazilian national locked up. The undocumented immigrant, Denner Dos Santos, 22, was hit with the detainer July 16.
However, ICE did not file the detainer until a short time after Dos Santos was released from Burlington County Jail, the agency said, creating questions as to how the county was to legally keep the Brazilian national locked up.
ICE raids have picked up in cities around the country since Donald Trump took over as president.
In February, ICE rounded up four Guatemalan immigrants with criminal records who were in the country illegally in Trenton. There were reports ICE was very active in Trenton, a sanctuary city.
President Trump has made it known that he wants to kick the “bad hombres” out of the country, and has outlined plans to deport illegal immigrants with criminal records.
Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson has in the past called for the stop of ICE raids.
“We’re going to protect the rights of residents in our city,” Jackson said in an interview earlier this year. “We’re not going to harbor criminals but we’re going to protect the rights of all of our citizens no matter where they’re from — documented or undocumented.”
As a sanctuary city, Trenton provides services, such as police, fire, health and education, to undocumented immigrants living in the capital city without asking about immigration status.
ICE reported removing 240,255 individuals from the U.S. last year.
Staff writer David Foster contributed to this report