Deportation officers apprehended gangbangers, sexual predators and a convicted murderer in a sweeping multi-agency sweep that oversaw the arrest of more than 200 illegal migrants.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 214 illegal migrants in northern Virginia during an enhanced enforcement operation that targeted transnational organized crime and egregious criminal migrants, according to the agency. The operation, which spanned the first two weeks of March, included a slate of federal agencies and state partners.
“Our communities in Virginia are safer today because our law enforcement officers stood between them and the danger,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Russ Hott said in a prepared statement. “During this enforcement operation, ICE and our law enforcement partners targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most gang-infested neighborhoods in Northern Virginia, and this resulted in 214 arrests.”
Among those arrested include three MS-13 gang members, all of whom are living in the U.S. unlawfully and carry criminal histories, according to ICE. A Jamaican national previously convicted of second-degree murder and two other illegal migrants previously convicted of sexual-related crimes were also among those taken into ICE custody.
In a move to help execute apprehensions and deportations on a more grand scale, the Trump administration in January granted agents in nearly every other federal law enforcement agency with immigration enforcement authority. That directive was on display during the northern Virginia operation, with the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, the DEA, and other federal and state agents participating in the raid.
“The level of support ICE received from our partner law enforcement organizations was inspiring,” Hott said. “In the spirit of illicit gang activity, we are making gang members an offer they can’t refuse; leave the United States now. If you don’t, we will find you, and there will be consequences.”
“We will arrest and prosecute you to the full extent of the law,” Hott continued.
The northern Virginia raid was immediately preceded by another sweeping ICE operation in the Houston, Texas, area that oversaw the arrest of 646 illegal migrants — 543 of whom were foreign nationals charged or convicted of a criminal offense. Among those arrested in Houston included 140 illegal migrants charged or convicted of an aggravated felony or other violent crime such as homicide, aggravated assault or domestic violence.
Senior ICE officials announced Wednesday that a total of 32,809 illegal migrants have been arrested since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The number, officials pointed out, has nearly matched all of the ICE arrests that took place in fiscal year 2024 under the Biden administration.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons also accused the Biden administration of “purposely misleading the American people” by falsely inflating ICE arrests. The acting director said the discovery was made when the new administration realized Biden officials counted “pass-through” arrests as ICE arrests, despite these types of arrests not resulting in any enforcement actions.
“Comprehensive review was done internally here with ICE and we found tens of thousands of cases that were recorded as arrests, when in fact, these instances were illegal aliens that were simply processed and released into the American communities,” Lyons said. “The previous administration counted these arrests, even though no immigration enforcement action was taken.”
While interior ICE arrests are on the rise, Border Patrol encounters are at all-time lows.
Nationwide Border Patrol apprehensions averaged around 330 per day in February, while U.S.-Mexico border apprehensions fell to less than 300 per day, according to Customs and Border Protection. The Trump administration hailed the figure as “the lowest average of nationwide apprehensions in CBP history” — and pointed to the executive orders signed by Trump as the catalyst for the huge drop.
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