A six-day operation focusing on at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants, and immigration fugitives by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has resulted in the apprehension of 55 people in New York, nine of which were Caribbean nationals. The nine people include a Guyanese national, convicted of kidnapping, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon; a Trinidadian two people from the Dominican Republic, and five Jamaicans.

According to ICE, some of the foreign nationals will be presented for federal prosecution for re-entry after deportation, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. As for those not being criminally prosecuted, they will be processed for removal from the country.

The US law states that individuals who have outstanding orders of deportation, or who returned to the United States illegally after being deported, are subjected to immediate removal from the country. The field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations New York, Thomas Decker, said ICE “will be diligent in its responsibility to find those who come to the United States to prey upon our communities and ultimately have them removed from the country”.

The enforcement actions were conducted by ERO deportation officers in all boroughs of New York City, and Putnam and Westchester counties. Their report shared that the largest number of arrests during their operation was accounted for in the Kings and Queens counties.