28 arrested during five-day ICE operation targeting criminal aliens

MILWAUKEE -- 28 individuals were arrested during a five-day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation targeting criminal aliens and immigration fugitives in Wisconsin.

28 convicted criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and immigration violators were arrested during the operation in northeastern Wisconsin which ended Tuesday, August 21st.

Of the 28 arrested, 26 had prior convictions for crimes, such as: sexually assaulting a minor, theft, possessing cocaine, domestic abuse, carrying a concealed weapon, battery, criminal trespass and drunken driving.

Four of the 28 were immigration fugitives who had been previously ordered to leave the country but failed to depart; all of those are convicted criminals in addition to having outstanding deportation orders.  

Four of the 28 – also all convicted criminals – had been previously deported and illegally re-entered the United States, which is a felony.  

The nationality breakdown of the 27 men and one woman arrested is as follows: Mexico (23), Laos (3), Honduras (2). Arrests were made in the following northeast Wisconsin communities: Appleton (3), Bailey’s Harbor (1), Casco (4), Cecil (1), Fond de Lac (1), Green Bay (6), Manitowoc (5), New London (1), Oshkosh (1), Reedsville (1), Sheboygan (2), Two Rivers (1), and Wrightstown (1).

These arrests were coordinated with ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP), which is responsible for investigating, locating, arresting and removing at-large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives — aliens who have ignored final orders of deportation handed down by federal immigration courts. ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and public safety, including members of transnational street gangs and child sex offenders.