Immigration sweep nets 280 with criminal records

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

39 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES — Immigration agents arrested 280 people in California in their biggest push yet to round up suspected illegal immigrants with criminal records, authorities said Friday.

More than 400 agents and local law enforcement officers fanned out across the state in the three-day search led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"These are not people who we want walking our streets," ICE director John Morton said. "We're going to focus on those people who choose to pursue a life of crime in the United States rather than pursue the American dream of education, hard work and success."

The operation came four months after Morton said the agency's fugitive operations teams would increasingly focus on finding people with criminal records and no longer use arrest quotas.

The agency said the teams arrested twice as many immigrants with criminal records in the 2009 fiscal year than during the year-ago period.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h3p38xFNoH51AqxGRBaoHz0ofBNQD9CHB8201

[alstephenson]

1. Arizona's Sheriff Joe, on the other hand, is too busy

arresting people for DWH (Driving While Hispanic). So he doesn't have the time or resources to actually pursue criminals. I hate that man.

[AzNick]

3. I hope you like pink undies and green bologna

You could be arrested for not liking Arpaio.

[alstephenson]

5. Point well taken....

[ihavenobias]

2. Good in light of the criminal background. As for the employement issue, let's go after employers.

You know, the ones looking to exploit cheap labor and depress wage, benefits and working conditions.

[Crzyrussell]

6. Going after the employers is the best way. If they can't

work then they just go home on their own. It is interesting how easy the illegal workers are replaced by citizens and legal workers at the raided work sites.

[Zorra]

4. 2007 DOJ stats on non-citizen prison inmates:

Table 12. Number of non-U.S. citizens held in state
or federal prisons, June 30, 2000-2007
Year Total Male Female
2000 89,676 86,130 3,546
2001 87,917 84,196 3,721
2002 88,677 84,931 3,746
2003 90,568 86,751 3,817
2004 91,815 88,013 3,802
2005 91,089 87,430 3,659
2006a 91,053 87,353 3,700
2006b 93,267 89,485 3,782
2007a 87,226 83,657 3,569
2007b 96,703 92,739 3,964
Average annual
change,
2000-2006 0.3% 0.2% 0.7%

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/pim07.pdf

[alp227]

7. K&R...gotta keep the streets safe

Good point Mr. Morton. Come to America, follow our rules, be a decent citizen, and contribute to society, otherwise you get the boot up the balls.

Anyway, because Google News links expire after a few days, here's a more stable link

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/us/12immig.html