HOUSTON - Federal immigration officers arrested 735 criminal illegal aliens across the Houston area last month who collectively accounted for 1,711 criminal convictions, including 5 homicides, 38 sex offenses, and 495 DWI convictions, ICE announced.
Of those arrested, 625 had been convicted of at least one criminal offense that killed, harmed, or endangered Americans, and approximately 1,182 — 70% — of the total convictions were for violent crimes or offenses that endangered public safety, according to the agency. Twenty-five of the arrested illegal immigrants were members or associates of transnational and prison gangs including MS-13, Surenos 13, 18th Street, Tango Blast, Paisas, Chucos Tangos, Southwest Cholos, Brown and Proud, and La Primera.
“We’re releasing this data not because it stands out from any other month, but because this is a snapshot of who we’re arresting every single month, as a result of the reckless immigration policies enacted by prior administrations that allowed gang members, murderers, child rapists and other violent criminal illegal aliens to flood into the country unvetted,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez.
The conviction breakdown reveals the scale of criminal conduct among those arrested: 224 aggravated assault, assault, and battery convictions; 170 burglary, robbery, and theft convictions; 13 child sex offenses among the 38 sex offenses; 12 sex trafficking convictions; 32 alien smuggling convictions; 30 weapons offenses; 3 kidnapping convictions; 23 domestic violence convictions; 8 child abuse, cruelty, or neglect convictions; 4 arson convictions; 11 drug trafficking convictions; 15 terroristic threats convictions; and 1 attempted capital murder of a police officer.
The DWI figures alone accounted for 495 convictions, with repeat offenders throughout: three illegal immigrants had been convicted of six DWIs each, two had five DWI convictions, nine had four, 47 had three, and 66 had two. An additional 10 of those DWI convictions involved hit-and-runs, on top of 24 separate hit-and-run convictions. The remaining offenses included 161 drug possession convictions, 67 for resisting arrest or obstructing justice, 48 fraud, forgery, and identity theft convictions, 4 street racing convictions — 2 of which resulted in serious bodily harm — 2 deadly conduct convictions, 1 conviction for illegally transporting explosives, 2 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act convictions, 22 trespassing convictions, 2 gang activity convictions, 4 crimes against persons convictions, and 316 other criminal convictions including money laundering, witness tampering, and counterfeiting.
“The public needs to know that the aliens we’re targeting aren’t the harmless economic migrants that the mainstream media and elected officials try to portray,” Martinez said. “These are violent criminals who repeatedly violate our laws and there’s no doubt if we don’t arrest and deport them from the U.S., they will continue to commit crimes and more Americans will become victimized as a result.”
ICE’s Houston field office is responsible for immigration enforcement across 58 counties in Southeast Texas, stretching along the Texas Gulf Coast from Beaumont to Corpus Christi. The agency described the data as representative of a typical month of enforcement operations in the region.