OAKDALE, LA-Ninety-three Dominican nationals illegally present in the U.S. were deported from here this week to their native country by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and removal officers.

All of those deported had been detained in ICE facilities in a five-state area that includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

Among those deported were Jose Martinez-Santana, 33, and Sergio Javier-Hernandez, 46, whose criminal history included assault and rape. Also deported was 34-year-old homicide convict Rafael Rosario.

The offenses of the criminal aliens removed included robbery, entry without inspection, illegal re-entry, sex offenses, assault, drug trafficking, homicide, and weapons violations.

"We will continue to fulfill our congressional mandate by deporting those ordered removed from our country, especially those who have committed egregious offenses against our citizens," said Trey Lund, field office director for the Office of Detention and Removal in New Orleans. "Every deportation helps to restore integrity to our nation's immigration system."

Part of ICE's interior enforcement initiative is to promote public safety and national security by ensuring that all aliens who are subject to deportation are removed from the United States as expeditiously as possible.

Last year, ICE removed a record-setting 186,600 illegal aliens; more than 86,000 of whom had prior criminal convictions.

These deportations are part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a comprehensive multi-year plan by the Department of Homeland Security to secure America's borders and reduce illegal migration. Under SBI, Homeland Security seeks to gain operational control of both the northern and southern borders, while re-engineering the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the country quickly and efficiently. SBI also involves strong interior enforcement efforts, including enhanced worksite enforcement investigations and intensified efforts to track down and remove illegal aliens inside this country.

Criminal aliens are non-citizens who have committed felonies or other crimes that make them ineligible to remain in the United States in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

ICE encourages the public to report suspicious activity by calling the ICE toll-free hotline: 1-866-DHS-2ICE.

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