Skip Navigation

News Releases

April 27, 2007

ICE arrests 148 immigration violators, criminals and fugitives in Dallas
Four-day Operation Cross Check nets 2 alien sex offenders and 39 other criminal aliens

DALLAS - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested 148 illegal aliens, criminals and immigration fugitives during a four-day enforcement operation here.

Called Operation Cross Check, this localized, targeted enforcement initiative, which began April 23 and concluded today, is part of an ongoing nationwide initiative focused on arresting criminal aliens.  During this operation, ICE officers arrested 148 illegal aliens, including 41 with criminal convictions.  Among those arrested were 124 men and 17 women; seven juveniles were also apprehended and returned to their countries of origin.  Of the 148 aliens arrested, 84 have already been returned to Mexico.

“ICE will continue to fulfill our Congressional mandate to apprehend and deport those who entered our country illegally, especially those who have committed criminal acts,” said Nuria Prendes, field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Dallas.  “Our job is to help protect the public from those who commit crimes, and to protect the integrity of the nation’s legal immigration system.”

Those arrested included aliens from the following countries:  Argentina (1), China (1), Colombia (3), El Salvador (10), Guatemala (4), Honduras (5), Mexico (118), Nepal (3), Venezuela (1), Vietnam (1) and Zambia (1).

Following are two of those arrested with criminal convictions for sexual assaults against children:

  • David Santamaria, from Mexico, was convicted of “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 18” in Los Angeles, Calif.  Santamaria’s deportation case is on appeal and his next appearance date is July 16 in Dallas.  Due to the nature of the crime, Santamaria is being held in custody without bail awaiting his next court date.
  • Jose Aleman, from El Salvador, was convicted for “indecency with a child, sexual contact” in Dallas.  Aleman is currently awaiting deportation according to a federal immigration judge’s order.

Some of the crimes of other criminal aliens arrested by ICE agents during this operation include:  Resisting arrest, weapons offenses, escape, vehicle theft, assault, possessing a controlled substance, burglary, fraud, family violence, etc.

Those who have not already been returned to Mexico have been placed into deportation proceedings and are awaiting return to the countries of origin.

These arrests are part of ICE’s interior enforcement strategy, which was announced in April 2006 by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers.  A critical element of this interior enforcement strategy is to identify and remove criminal aliens, fugitives and other immigration violators from the United States.

-- 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.

  Last Modified: