15 migrants arrested secondary to sweep
Fifteen people who aren’t suspected of other criminal activity were arrested on immigration charges during the course of a statewide Drug Enforcement Administration-led drug sweep this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s regional spokesman Bryan Cox said Friday.
The individuals were not criminal targets but were detained when they were “encountered” over the course of Operation Task Force Arkansas, Cox said.
Of those 15 individuals, 11 have no criminal record known to immigration authorities, two had prior criminal convictions and two were “illegal re-entrants,” Cox said, meaning they previously had been deported and re-entered the country. Cox did not immediately have a breakdown of nationalities of those detained or the circumstances of their arrests.
Officials declined to comment on individual cases during a news conference held Friday in Little Rock, which was attended by representatives of federal and local law enforcement agencies. Officials said information about the location of immigration-related arrests was not yet available.
Officials spoke in general terms about the incorporation of immigration authorities with the drug investigation, which commenced in July and came to a head this week, resulting in 1,260 total arrests and the seizure of narcotics and 211 firearms.
“[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is a federal law enforcement partner, just like the FBI, the DEA and the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives],” Eastern District U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland said. “Illegal immigration is inextricably tied to drug trafficking and human trafficking. When we have operations like this, if there are illegal acts that have been committed, [individuals] will be held accountable.”
Immigration authorities assisted the DEA primarily through its Homeland Security Investigations arm, which investigates crimes such as drug smuggling and trafficking, Cox said. But immigration arrests sometimes are made over the course of a criminal investigation.
“If we encounter unlawfully present foreign nationals, we’re not going to turn a blind eye to that,” he said.
Mireya Reith, executive director of immigrant advocate group Arkansas United Community Coalition, said