U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, conducted a week-long operation in the Houston area that resulted in the arrest of 646 undocumented individuals. The operation took place from February 23 to March 2 and aimed to enhance public safety, national security, and border security.
Of those arrested, 543 were identified as criminal aliens who had been charged or convicted of various offenses while illegally present in the United States. The arrests included individuals involved in serious crimes such as aggravated felonies, violent offenses like homicide and domestic violence, sex offenses including child exploitation, illegal firearms possession, drug trafficking, property crimes like burglary and theft, and driving under the influence.
Bret Bradford, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director, commented on the operation: "In recent years, some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members and criminal aliens have taken advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to illegally enter the U.S. After illegally entering the country, many of these criminal aliens have gone on to commit violent crime and reign terror on law-abiding residents."
Chad Plantz, ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge added: "In just one week working alongside our counterparts from federal, state and local law enforcement, ICE HSI special agents successfully executed 71 criminal arrest warrants and made 554 administrative arrests that included illegally present human smugglers, gang members, human traffickers, child sex offenders, drug traffickers and weapons traffickers."
The operation saw collaboration from several agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Texas Department of Public Safety; Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Marshals Service; among others.