Jamaicans among 17 nationals arrested in US raid

CMC -An undisclosed number of Jamaicans and Bahamians have been arrested in the United States immigration fugitive operation, as part of its “ongoing commitment to prioritising the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators”.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) agency said officers in its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore Fugitive Operations teams “arrested 17 public safety threats” in a three-day operation.

ICE said “Cross Check” enforcement operation targeted “at-large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives”.

The immigration agency said besides nationals from Jamaica and the Bahamas, those detained were from countries “spanning the globe” including El Salvador, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua and Sierra Leone.

It said the 17 were residing in the various communities here and in addition to being convicted criminals, two of those arrested were also immigration fugitives who had previously been ordered to leave the US but failed to depart.

Additionally, it said two were “illegal re-entrants” who had been previously removed from the country, which is a US federal felony offense.

“The results of this targeted enforcement operation underscore ICE's ongoing commitment to strengthening and protecting public safety with a focus on the arrest and removal of convicted criminal aliens and those that game our nation's immigration system,” said Calvin McCormick, field office director for ERO Baltimore.

He said the 17 arrested were all males with prior criminal convictions including assault and drug distribution.

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