Agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have apprehended as many as 82 foreign nationals, who have prior criminal records, during a five-day sweep in New Jersey. This is according to a statement from the agency, which was released on Monday. The New Jersey field office of ICE, the US Marshals Service, the FBI, the New Jersey State Parole Office, and the Homeland Security Investigations department of ICE all played a part in the sweep.
All the 82 immigrants arrested during the sweep had previously been convicted of serious offences. These included domestic violence and attempted murder, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Also among those placed under arrest between 5 and 9 December was a Kenyan convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and engaging in criminal sexual contact with a child. An Ecuadorian wanted for murder by Interpol, was also arrested, together with a Cuban convicted of the possession and distribution of narcotics, as well as robbery, and a Jamaican, convicted of stalking, distribution of narcotics, terrorist threats, resisting arrest, and possessing a weapon.
Immigrants from Brazil, China, El Salvador, Ghana, Haiti, Hungary, Peru, the Ukraine, Colombia, the Dominican Republican, England, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the Philippines, were also arrested during the sweeps, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The arrests were carried out under guidelines set in a memorandum in September 2014, which made undocumented immigrants convicted of a felony top priority targets for the agency.