December 4, 2007

ICE Fugitive Operations Teams arrest more than 30,000 in FY2007
Officer teams and more efficient data contribute to decline in number of criminal aliens, immigration fugitives

WASHINGTON, D.C - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that their teams of officers who track down criminal aliens and immigration fugitives arrested almost twice as many in fiscal year 2007 than in the previous year. For the first time since records have been kept, the nation's fugitive alien population is on the decline.

In the last fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, ICE Fugitive Operations Teams arrested 30,408 individuals - up from 15,462 arrests made in FY 2006. One of the reasons for the increase in arrests is the deployment of dozens more teams across the country. ICE met its goal of deploying 75 teams by the end of FY 2007; up from 52 active teams in FY2006.

The Fugitive Operations Program's rapid growth has spurred its success. However, better coordination of information from state and local law enforcement and more efficient data collection and dissemination have also contributed greatly. As of October 1, 2007, ICE's fugitive case backlog consisted of less than 595,000 fugitive aliens, which is approximately 38,000 fewer fugitives than the population recorded at the same time last year. That number continues to decrease.

"The growing number of arrests made by the ICE Fugitive Operations Teams should serve as a deterrent to people attempting to side-step our nation's laws," said Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary for ICE. "We kept our promise to bolster the number of teams this past year and we continue to improve our ability to identify and apprehend individuals who pose a serious threat to our communities or choose to ignore our immigration laws."

Arrests across the country include:

• Luis Medina Gonzalez, 34, of Mexico; a criminal fugitive alien convicted of beating another man to death more than a decade ago in Mexico. Medina Gonzalez was arrested in Maywood, Calif., and deported the following day.
• Jose Sanchez-Roches, 47, of Cuba; a criminal fugitive alien apprehended by the Miami team in May.  Sanchez-Roches has a criminal history including convictions for murder, armed robbery, burglary, drug possession, and resisting arrest.
• Jose Reyes-Reyes, 50, of El Salvador; a criminal fugitive arrested in Miami.  Reyes-Reyes has been removed before and in 1988 he plead guilty to murder in Harris County, Texas, where he served 15 years in prison. 
• Victorino Anaya-Renza, 45, of Mexico; a criminal fugitive alien convicted of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Anaya-Renza was arrested in Philadelphia in April for defying an immigration judge's order of removal.
• Pedro Roman Perez, 59, of the Dominican Republic; a criminal fugitive alien with U.S. convictions for attempted murder, assault and driving under the influence was arrested in March by the Newark Fugitive Operations Team. He had previously been ordered removed from the country.
• Rory Amoy Sinclair, 27, of Jamaica; a criminal fugitive alien arrested in Atlanta was convicted by the Superior Court of Fulton County (Ga.) for sexual battery of a minor, possession of marijuana and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In addition to the expanded partnerships with local law enforcement agencies across the country, the newly created Fugitive Operations Support Center (FOCC) in Vermont, which aids in gathering and analyzing information on fugitive cases across the country, has also helped the Fugitive Operations Teams succeed. This center was opened last year and has since disseminated more than 150,000 case leads to ICE agents.

ICE established its Fugitive Operations Program in 2003 to eliminate the nation's backlog of immigration fugitives and ensure that deportation orders handed down by immigration judges are enforced. The teams prioritize cases involving immigration violators who pose a threat to national security and community safety. These include child sexual exploiters, suspected gang members and those who have convictions for any violent crimes.

ICE's Fugitive Operations Program is an integral part of the comprehensive multi-year plan launched by the Department of Homeland Security to secure America's borders and reduce illegal migration. That strategy seeks to gain operational control of both the northern and southern borders, while re-engineering the alien detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the country quickly and efficiently.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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