Some 122 illegal immigrants were deported to China on June 3 as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) immigration enforcement efforts, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on June 9.
ICE stated that the deportees, aged between 19 and 68, were placed on a “special high risk charter flight” after receiving final removal orders from detention facilities where they had been held in the United States.
“Through our interagency partnerships and coordination across ICE field offices, we have successfully removed these individuals, many who were convicted of egregious crimes,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas acting Field Office Director Josh Johnson said in a statement.
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“This operation not only enhances the public safety of our communities across the U.S. but also strengthens national security,” Johnson added.
Some of the illegal immigrants aboard the flight had been convicted of serious crimes, including murder, lewd acts with a minor, human trafficking, rape, and drug trafficking, according to ICE.
Federal authorities have ramped up immigration arrests targeting criminal illegal immigrants nationwide as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts to enforce U.S. federal law.
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On May 30, federal immigration agents in Los Angeles arrested 36 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals during a raid on an underground nightclub. The individuals were suspected of “being illegally present” in the country.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said in a Fox & Friends interview last week that the agency was averaging about 1,600 arrests of illegal immigrants daily, adding that it could potentially do more.
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Protests have erupted in Los Angeles since June 6 against federal immigration enforcement actions, prompting the president to deploy members of the National Guard to restore order against the governor’s wishes. Sporadic protests later broke out in New York City and San Francisco, which led to dozens of arrests over bouts of violence and interfering with federal officers, which is a serious federal crime with fines and prison time.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NTD, sister media of The Epoch Times, on June 7 that rioters were “assaulting ICE enforcement officers, slashing tires, defacing buildings and taxpayer funded property,” noting that 800 protestors had surrounded and at one point breached the first layer of a federal law enforcement building in Los Angeles.
On June 9, the Trump administration authorized the deployment of another 2,000 additional National Guardsmen to Los Angeles as riots continue across the city, adding to the 2,100 already in the city—a move California Gov. Gavin Newsom has denounced as a breach of state sovereignty.
The guardsmen will coordinate with 700 Marines who have also been sent to the city.
Their deployment was carried out without invoking the Insurrection Act, meaning the authority of any deployed guardsmen or Marines is limited solely to protecting federal interests in the region. They are not authorized to make arrests or carry out general law enforcement functions.
Rudy Blalock and Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
