Elevated
Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks
June 22, 2007
DENVER - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that ICE agents and officers apprehended 38 criminal aliens, fugitive aliens, and other immigration status violators as part of a three-day northern Colorado and western Wyoming interior immigration enforcement operation that began June 20.
This operation follows ICE's announcement on Wednesday that it has reduced the backlog of open fugitive alien cases in the country. This is the first time this backlog has dropped. "Fugitive aliens" are illegal aliens who fail to show up for an immigration hearing or who abscond after an immigration judge orders them to leave the country.
This Colorado and Wyoming targeted enforcement initiative concluded today and is part of an ongoing nationwide operation primarily focused on criminal aliens. ICE agents and officers from Denver carried out the enforcement operation assisted by officers from various law enforcement agencies.
ICE began the northern Colorado operation Wednesday in Summit County making 17 arrests, and arrested five arrests in Sweetwater and Carbon Counties, Wyo. The operation continued Thursday and Friday, with an additional 11 arrests in Summit County and five arrests in Routt and Moffat Counties, Colo. The aliens apprehended ranged in age from 20 to 48 years old.
There were four females and 34 males arrested. Nationalities included: Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Czech Republic.
"ICE has been working aggressively to improve the systems that help us identify, target and remove fugitive aliens from the United States," said Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for ICE. "By apprehending more fugitives and reducing the number of new fugitives, we're making unprecedented progress. This turning point is truly a significant milestone, and a reflection that we're headed in the right direction, yet there is more work to be done."
Between September 2003 and September 2006, the fugitive alien population grew by an average of 5,682 fugitives per month or 68,184 new cases per year. By streamlining business practices, tripling the number of fugitive operations teams, improving intelligence and analysis, increasing available detention spaces and ending the practice of catch and release at the border, ICE has seen that growth level off for the last eight months and drop by more than 500 names in the last two months - for the first time in U.S. history. In the past two months, according to ICE's Deportable Alien Control System (DACS), there were 632,189 fugitive aliens in the United States.
ICE has been able to achieve this milestone by apprehending more fugitives in the United States and by changing practices that were creating fugitives at the border.
To apprehend more fugitive aliens, ICE implemented the following plans and programs:
ICE put a halt to creating new fugitives by:
Summary of three of the criminal aliens ICE agents arrested in Colorado during this week's operation:
Daniel Antonio Chinchilla-Giron was ordered removed to El Salvador by a federal immigration judge in November 2004. He was granted a deferred sentence on second-degree Felony Burglary, Domestic Violence, Invading privacy/wiretapping convictions on May 31, 2001. ICE is currently working with Summit County district attorney regarding recent sexual assault and false imprisonment charges that occurred June 18, 2007.
Julio Garcia Zurita was apprehended at his residence in Dillon, Colo., on June 20. A federal immigration judge had granted him Voluntary Departure until Oct. 17, 2003. His failure to depart the United States rendered him deportable. He has convictions for disorderly conduct for fighting in public, and possessing contraband.
Marco Antonio Palma Tamayo is a citizen and national of Mexico, and claims membership in a Surenos street gang. He has convictions in California for drunken driving and cruelty to children resulting in possible injury or death.
-- ICE --