March 1, 2007

New Jersey fugitive teams arrest 363 in two-month operation
Return to Sender enforces orders issued by immigration judges

NEWARK, NJ – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers deployed across New Jersey targeting dozens of known fugitive aliens in an intensive two-month operation that resulted in the arrest of 363 fugitives, criminals and illegal aliens.  The enforcement action was part of operation Return to Sender, a nationwide ICE program that targets, locates and apprehends immigration fugitives.  ICE has three fugitive operations teams in New Jersey. 

During January ICE officers apprehended 89 fugitives and 131 other aliens illegally present in the United States.  In February officers apprehended 67 fugitives and 76 others illegally present in the country. 

Forty-eight of those arrested during the operation have criminal records including convictions for domestic violence, assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, bank fraud, theft, possession of stolen property, alien smuggling, resisting arrest and eluding police.

“Our message is clear.  ICE will use all of its resources to track down, arrest and remove individuals who believe they can defy immigration judges,” said Bartolome Rodriguez, acting field office director for ICE’s office of detention and removal in Newark.  “People who choose to disobey a judge’s order are fugitives and ICE is mandated by Congress to enforce final orders of removal.”

Those arrested during the ICE operation come from 26 different countries, including Mexico, Ecuador, Malaysia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Egypt, Brazil, India, Slovenia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Albania and Honduras.

Some of those arrested had been released on bond, while others had been freed on their own recognizance.  The subjects became fugitives when they failed to appear for their immigration hearings, or when they failed to leavet the United States as ordered.

The fugitives arrested will remain in ICE custody pending their final removal from the country.  The other individuals arrested have been placed in immigration removal proceedings.

The New Jersey operation is part of the nationwide interior immigration enforcement strategy announced last year by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and ICE Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers.  A critical element of that strategy is to identify, locate and remove criminal aliens, fugitives, and other immigration violators from the United States.

Since the start of operation Return to Sender, fugitive teams around the nation have arrested 18,149 fugitives and illegal aliens. 

The interior enforcement strategy is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s broader Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a multi-year plan to secure America’s borders and reduce illegal migration.  Those efforts are focused on gaining operational control of the nation’s borders through the deployment of additional personnel and technology, while re-engineering the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are quickly removed from the country.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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