1 year later: Austin's newly formed ICE team arrests 174 criminals

AUSTIN, Texas — Since the local office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) established its Fugitive Operations Team in October 2012, officers from this Austin office have arrested 198 aliens, including 174 with criminal histories.

There are 129 such teams nationwide in ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO). These Fugitive Operations Teams represent 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. These teams focus on repeat violators of immigration law and at-large aliens with serious criminal histories.

"The officers who make up our Fugitive Operations Teams are specially trained to track and arrest fugitive and criminal aliens," said Enrique M. Lucero, field office director of the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations in San Antonio. "We launched the Austin team after recognizing a need in the area; and as a result, the local community can feel safer knowing these potential threats to public safety are no longer on the streets."

Following are case examples of three criminal aliens arrested in the Austin area by the Fugitive Operations Team:

• On Nov. 7, ICE officers arrested a 35-year-old Mexican man who was wanted for murder in Maryland. ICE turned him over to the Williamson County Sheriff's Office pending extradition to Maryland.
• On Oct. 17, ICE officers arrested a 37-year-old Mexican man who had a criminal conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He remains in ICE custody pending the outcome of his immigration case.
• On Sept. 20, ICE officers arrested a 27-year-old Mexican man with an outstanding warrant for sexually assaulting a child. ICE officers turned him over to the Travis County Sheriff's office.

ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that targets serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, such as those charged with or convicted of homicide, rape, robbery, kidnapping, major drug offenses and threats to national security. ICE also prioritizes the arrest and removal of those who game the immigration system, including immigration fugitives or those criminal aliens who have been previously deported and illegally re-entered the country.