Hundreds arrested in US illegal immigration crackdown
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — More than 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants were arrested in the Los Angeles area over the past two weeks as part of what the government called the "largest ever" crackdown of its kind.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said Wednesday its Fugitive Operations Teams targeted illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes or those who ignored deportation orders.
More than 1,100 of the detainees were from Mexico, whose border is only 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Los Angeles.
The rest of the illegal immigrants detained include citizens of Armenia, India, Indonesia, Jordan and Peru.
More than 600 of the detainees have already been deported to their home countries, officials said.
"ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams make a priority of cases involving those who have ignored orders to leave our country and those who pose a threat to our communities," ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers said in a statement.
"The 1,300 taken into custody by ICE in the past two weeks include numerous suspected street gang members, as well as aliens convicted of sex offenses, assaults and kidnapping."
In a similar operation in January, authorities nabbed more than 750 people in the Los Angeles area who committed crimes or ignored deportation orders.
