Federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and their partners conducted nationwide roundups of more than 1,200 illegal immigrants over the weekend who were charged or convicted with committing crimes on American soil.
In a series of photos shared by ICE Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) from coast to coast, agents can be seen taking handcuffed suspects away.
In Atlanta, which is more than 1,000 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border but became a lightning rod in the immigration debate after an illegal immigrant brutally murdered a jogging college student in broad daylight, ERO teamed up with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Homeland Security Investigations to grab “criminal aliens” off the streets and prepare them for deportation flights.
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Miami-based federal agents arrested at least four illegal immigrants accused of committing crimes on U.S. soil over the weekend, including a Nicaraguan jailed in Broward County for an alleged shooting.
Up north, a joint operation including ICE, the FBI, ATF, DEA, Border Patrol and U.S. Marshals was underway in Chicago, a struggling blue city where Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson has vowed to “protect” illegals from enforcement operations.
The “enhanced targeted operations” in the Windy City were designed to “enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” ICE said in a statement.
Boston ERO announced the arrest of a Haitian man with 17 criminal convictions in Massachusetts, suspected gang member Wisteguens Charles.
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“Mr. Charles is illegally present in the United States and has consistently broken our laws, causing significant harm to the residents of Massachusetts,” Patricia Hyde, the acting director of the Boston Field Office, said in a statement. “ERO Boston will not tolerate the repeated victimization of our New England neighborhoods. We will continue our mission to apprehend such illegal alien offenders and remove them from our communities.”
Charles, 25, first entered the U.S. illegally in 2013 and between 2022 and 2024, he racked up 17 criminal convictions. ICE filed an immigration detainer request in 2023, but a Massachusetts jail ignored it and released him back into the community, authorities said.
The arrests come as part of what ICE said would be an operation targeting “known criminal aliens who threaten national security or public safety.”
President Donald Trump campaigned heavily on border security after his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, appeared ineffective or unwilling to stop an influx of illegal immigration for years.
By the time he finally acknowledged the issue, a wave of high-profile migrant crimes had shocked the country and shattered victims’ families. The parents of some of those murdered American women and girls went to Capitol Hill to lobby for the Laken Riley Act, the first bill Congress sent to Trump after his return to the White House.
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Riley, a 21-year-old Georgia nursing student, was brutally killed at random while jogging in Athens, about 75 miles east of Atlanta, by a Venezuelan illegal with suspected ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Jose Ibarra, 26, was convicted of 10 counts in November and sentenced to life without parole. He had entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and received border parole, freeing him to travel within the country.
He racked up criminal charges in New York City, where authorities released him before ICE could lodge a detainer. He then made his way to Georgia, where he attacked and murdered Riley.
“Removing criminal aliens from our communities isn’t just enforcement — it’s protection,” HSI’s Atlanta office said in a statement over the weekend as part of the deportation sweep. “Ensuring the safety and security of our neighborhoods starts with upholding the law.”
Fox News’ Heather Lacy contributed to this report.
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