ICE removes Trinidad national convicted of weapons violations

LAFAYETTE, La. — A Trinidad and Tobago man who served nearly 10 years in federal prison for illegally obtaining machine guns and silencers in Florida was removed from the United States Wednesday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Clive L. Small, 80, was convicted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in August 2005 of conspiracy to possess machine guns and firearm silencers, and possession of machine guns and firearm silencers. ERO officers took Small into immigration custody in February following his release from federal prison in Oakdale.

Small was previously removed from the United States in 1998 as ordered by an immigration judge. He was paroled back into the country in 2004 to face the federal weapons charges.

Small was removed Wednesday by ERO officers via commercial aircraft from the Lafayette airport to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 720 foreign fugitives from the United States who were being sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office of International Affairs, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the country.

In fiscal year 2014, ERO removed 315,943 individuals from the United States. In addition to convicted criminals, the agency's enforcement priorities include those apprehended while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States, illegal re-entrants – individuals who returned to the United States after being previously removed by ICE – and immigration fugitives. In fiscal year 2014, 98 percent of ICE removals met these priorities.