On Monday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that 25 undocumented immigrants, eligible for deportation from the US, were arrested during an operation on Long Island. 24 of the immigrants taken into custody also had prior convictions for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Officials say that at least one of the immigrants is also a member of the criminal gang MS-13, while others in the targeted group may have already been removed from the US and then illegally returned. The arrests were part of the targeted enforcement operations carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement focusing on immigrants deemed to be deportable from the US, due to previous immigration law violations, or because they have broken criminal laws.
Those arrested, who are all set to be deported, come from Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, the Ukraine, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico, according to federal officials. The crackdown, called Operation Secure Streets, saw arrests made in Amityville, Calverton, Coram, Huntington, Moriches, Port Jefferson, Riverhead, Shirley, Wheatley Heights, Bay Shore, Central Islip, Hampton Bays, Medford, Patchogue, Ronkonkoma, Sag Harbor, and West Babylon.
In a statement, Thomas R Decker, the director of the New York field office of ICE Enforcement and Removals, said that the operation was aimed at those with a conviction for driving while drunk or on drugs, sometimes when minors were in the vehicle. He added that it solidified the agency’s commitment to removing threats to public safety from local communities.