Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 132 people for civil and criminal immigration violations earlier this month as part of a state-wide crackdown.
One of those arrests happened in Virginia Beach – a Jamaican national with a conviction for driving while intoxicated – and one in Norfolk – a Jamaican national with convictions for possession of marijuana and possession of forged documents, according to ICE.
Four men were arrested in Newport News. Two Guatemalan nationals who illegally re-entered the United States after a previous removal. They face up to 20 years in prison and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A third Guatemalan was a fugitive from a final order of removal from a federal immigration judge.
The fourth man was a Mexican national who had two charges of petty larceny.
A man in James County also was one of those arrested. He’s a South African national and was arrested on civil immigration violations, ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said. He also had pending charges for assault and battery.
The arrests were made as part of ICE’s Operation Eagle’s Shield, which targeted “notable threats to public safety” throughout Virginia and Washington, D.C., according to an ICE news release.
The operation was conducted by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations of the Washington Field Office. The arrests were made between July 9 and 20. Nine of the suspects have already been deported.
The operation targeted “violent offenders” such as MS-13 gang members and sex offenders, according to the news release. The 131 men and one woman arrested in the crackdown were from nations including Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and Sudan.
“We set out to locate and detain known, dangerous criminal aliens who are hiding and operating in the neighborhoods we call home,” said ERO Washington field office director Russell Hott. “
Other agencies that provided support in Operation Eagle’s Shield include ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
