Latest news with #BretBradford
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Houston ICE Deports 142 Mexican Criminals
(Texas Scorecard) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported 142 criminal aliens from the Houston area to Mexico. Among them were eight known gang members, 11 convicted child predators, and one individual who had entered the country illegally 21 separate times. Collectively, the group illegally entered the country 480 times and accumulated 473 criminal convictions for a wide range of serious crimes, including: 11 convictions for child sex crimes 76 convictions for driving while intoxicated (DWI) 43 convictions for aggravated assault and domestic violence 22 convictions for human smuggling ICE Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said, 'Unfortunately, this is not an anomaly. For the past few years, there has been virtually no deterrent to illegal entry into the country.' As a result, millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, child predators, transnational gang members, and foreign fugitives, have poured into the U.S. Among the most egregious cases: Benito Charqueno Zavala, 60, was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child and is one of the 11 convicted child predators deported. Johnny Urbina Carillo, 37, was convicted of sexually exploiting a minor and had prior convictions for cocaine possession and illegal reentry. Luis Angel Garcia-Contreras, 40, a documented member of the Sureños 13 gang, had illegally entered the U.S. 21 times and had four convictions for illegal entry. Last week, ICE arrested nine illegal aliens allegedly involved in a drug trafficking operation that utilized both the U.S. Mail and a taco truck for distribution. Last month, ICE arrested 422 illegal aliens in the Houston area, including a convicted murderer who had been released into the country under Biden-era parole policies. Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey, a Republican, noted that the county jail maintains a strong partnership with ICE and regularly transfers custody of individuals with ICE detainers. Houston Mayor John Whitmire clarified in January that the Houston Police Department does not participate in federal immigration enforcement. 'HPD enforces state laws and will hold violators accountable regardless of immigration status,' he said. Still, HPD does notify ICE when officers encounter suspects with active immigration warrants.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
ICE arrests 422 undocumented immigrants, deports 528 in Houston operation
The Brief 422 undocumented immigrants were arrested and 528 were deported from the Houston area last week. The seven-day operation included efforts by numerous law enforcement agencies. Officials say the deportations, which reportedly included violent criminals, will enhance public safety. HOUSTON - A seven-day ICE operation in Houston saw 422 arrests and 528 deportations in an effort Homeland Security says focused on increasing public safety. According to the Tuesday release from Homeland Security Investigations, the 422 undocumented immigrants ICE arrested included 296 criminals. The operation lasted from May 4 to May 10. HSI's release included the following reported criminals: A 46-year-old criminal alien from Colombia arrested May 7 who has been convicted in Colombia of homicide and providing false information to law enforcement. A 40-year-old three-time deported criminal alien from Mexico arrested May 8 who has been convicted three times for possession of a controlled substance, twice for illegal discharge of a firearm, and once for arson, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, illegal entry, criminal mischief, and driving while intoxicated. A 32-year-old five-time deported criminal alien from Mexico arrested May 7 who has been convicted twice for burglary, larceny, and illegal reentry, and once for aggravated assault. A 45-year-old criminal alien from Mexico arrested May 5 who has been convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor. A 72-year-old criminal alien from Mexico arrested May 6 who has been convicted of homicide, robbery, shoplifting, assault, and carrying a prohibited weapon. The operation is part of a continued effort in the Houston area to increase border security in Texas. According to the release, the operation's priority targets were undocumented immigrants "who have exhausted due process and been ordered removed from the country." They say ICE Houston is using an initiative established by President Donald Trump's administration to gather arrestees at designated hubs at the southern border. The initiative will reportedly allow for deportation to the immigrants' countries of origin within 24-72 hours. The release says this reduced custody time could help save millions of tax dollars per year. Local perspective The release says the operation aimed to "bolster" the safety of Houston-area residents. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said the removal of undocumented immigrants, which he said include "some of the world's most dangerous fugitives," is part of an effort to "restore law and order" to Texas. ICE was assisted in the operation by agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Diplomatic Security Service; the FBI; the U.S. Marshals Service; and the Texas Department of Public Safety. What they're saying DEA Houston Division Acting Special Agent in Charge William Kimbell reinforced the mission of protecting communities through border control efforts. "Illegal activities breed further crime, and our collaborative efforts through these enforcement operations have allowed us to do what the DEA does best, remove drugs off the streets that are devastating lives and dismantle drug networks, safeguarding our communities," said Kimbell. "These operations have allowed us to share our resources with our federal partners and expand our scope of DEA drug trafficking investigations to achieve the common goal of making communities safer." A statement in the release from ATF Houston Special Agent in Charge Michael voiced the same message. "This operation underscores the vital importance of collaboration across federal, state, and local agencies in protecting our communities," said Weddel. "By working together, we were able to identify and remove individuals who posed a clear threat to public safety. Our unified efforts send a strong message: dangerous criminal aliens will be held accountable, and public safety remains our top priority." The Source Information in this article came from Homeland Security Investigations.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE says it deported more than 500 people in the Houston area in one week
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said it has deported more than 500 people and arrested more than 400 suspected undocumented immigrants as part of a weeklong operation in the Houston area. 'This initiative will save taxpayers millions of dollars each year by significantly reducing the time that aliens who have exhausted due process and been ordered removed from the U.S. need to be in ICE custody,' said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford. The Department of Homeland Security didn't list the type of crimes the people were convicted of or the type of immigration violations they are accused of. But it did highlight five cases of immigrants who were arrested, including two with homicide convictions and one convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor. It's unclear whether this is the largest ICE operation in Texas under the Trump administration. The federal government doesn't publicly release data on arrests or removals consistently. However, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse — also known as TRAC — a nonprofit organization that maintains and analyzes data it gets through public records requests, the daily average of arrests nationwide from Jan. 26 to March 8 was 812. From Jan. 26 to March 8, the national daily average of removals was 661, an 11% drop from the daily average during the Biden administration, according to TRAC. 'While initially, daily numbers of ICE arrests were posted on social media, this practice stopped when arrest numbers began to fall,' according to a report by TRAC. The arrests and deportations come as a result of a multi-agency operation that included U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Diplomatic Security Service; the FBI; the U.S. Marshals Service; and the Texas Department of Public Safety. 'This operation underscores the vital importance of collaboration across federal, state, and local agencies in protecting our communities,' said ATF Houston Special Agent in Charge Michael Weddel. 'By working together, we were able to identify and remove individuals who posed a clear threat to public safety. Our unified efforts send a strong message: dangerous criminal aliens will be held accountable, and public safety remains our top priority.' Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America's Voice, a national advocacy group, decried the Trump administration's efforts to paint immigrants as criminals. 'This administration will have you believe that every immigrant in America is out to harm us, but that is far from the reality,' she said in a statement. 'The vast majority of immigrants are here because they believe in the best of America and they are here making meaningful contributions.' First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
Fox News
12-05-2025
- Fox News
ICE arrests 422 illegal migrants in Houston sweep, including suspects wanted for murder, arson
EXCLUSIVE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement and removal officers in Houston arrested 422 suspected illegal immigrants during a weeklong operation. During the operation, ICE officers targeted some of the most dangerous criminals, including an illegal migrant wanted in Colombia on murder charges. Fox News exclusively embedded with officers for 10 hours as ICE officers arrested an illegal alien they say is wanted for murder in Colombia, at his apartment complex. "He has a homicide conviction in Colombia and was sentenced to 21 years there," ICE Houston Director Bret Bradford said. "He entered the United States illegally in February of 2024 was given a court date for an immigration hearing and released. He did not show up for that court date, so in March of this year, he was ordered removed by an immigration judge here in the United States. "The biggest thing for me is public safety," Bradford said. Of the 422 arrests, 262 have criminal convictions, 34 have pending convictions, 126 have other immigration violations, and 229 had final orders of removal, according to ICE. Another illegal alien removed during the operation was a 72-year-old migrant from Mexico who was ordered removed from the U.S. in 2018, and has been convicted of homicide, robbery, shoplifting and assault. During the operation, a 40-year-old twice-deported criminal alien from Mexico was seen trying flee in his vehicle and then on foot before he eventually was captured. According to ICE, Hector Castillo-Garcia was convicted of several charges while in the U.S. illegally, including arson, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and driving while intoxicated. The Houston ICE Field Office has an operation center with analysts dedicated to developing these targets. "They are doing the database research to get the worst of the worst, the ones who have the most significant threat to public safety," Bradford said. "And then we want to look at the information we have on that individual, make sure it's a viable target, make sure we have good addresses, go out and do surveillance so we can see if we can a pattern of the subjects' movements and behavior. So, we want to kind of combine the worst of the worst plus the ones we have the most likelihood of encountering and arresting, trying to merge those two things together to come up with the top targets." ICE is also ramping up its efforts to remove illegal migrants by swiftly transferring those with final removal orders to designated hubs, where they are deported immediately to their home countries. This "hub and spoke" system, which speeds up the removal process, has just started recently, according to the ICE field director. "We can arrest the individual this morning, process him this afternoon, and have him on a removal flight this evening, same day, saving taxpayer cost and just making it more efficient and expedited process to get these folks out of the country," said Bradford. Fox News got exclusive footage of 80 detainees in Houston boarding one of the flights bound for the El Paso, Texas, hub. Breakdown of Arrests: Criminal Convictions: 262 Pending convictions: 34 Other Immigration Violations: 126 Final Orders of Removal: 229 Breakdown of Criminal Convictions: Aggravated Assault: 24 Assault: 35 Burglary: 6 Driving While Intoxicated: 48 Narcotics-related Offenses: 37 Forgery/Fraud: 10 Obstruction/Resisting Arrest: 21 Murder: 1 Robbery: 6 Sexual Assault (adult): 6 Sexual Assault-Child/Minor: 5 Smuggling Aliens: 10 Terroristic Threat: 5 Vehicle Theft: 6 Weapons Offense: 9 Gang Members/Affiliates Arrested: 5
Fox News
03-04-2025
- Fox News
ICE says it deported 174 criminal migrants from Texas, including a man with 39 illegal entries
A two-week clampdown on illegal immigration in Texas has resulted in more than 170 criminal migrants being arrested and deported to Mexico, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE Houston said Thursday that those arrested included two convicted on homicide-related charges, and Julian Estrada-Garcia, an alien from Mexico who had illegally entered the U.S. 39 times. In total, 174 criminal illegal migrants, including 24 gang members, were nabbed in the operation from March 17 through March 28. The group accounted for 610 criminal convictions with four convictions for rape or sexual assault and five convictions for child sex offenses. Other serious offenses included 146 convictions for driving while intoxicated, 72 convictions for aggravated assault or assault, while other offenses included eight hit and runs, human smuggling convictions and drug trafficking. Bret Bradford, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston, said the operation was a small snapshot of the work ICE agents carry out every day to enhance public safety. It follows a previous weeklong multiagency operation in the area that netted nearly 543 criminal migrants, seven of whom were gang members. "Each day they put their lives on the line to apprehend and remove dangerous criminal aliens, transnational gang members and foreign fugitives who have illegally entered the U.S. and are preying on innocent, hardworking Texans," Bradford said. "Fueled by our unwavering commitment to protect the public from harm, and united in our determination to restore integrity to our nation's system of laws, ICE will continue to aggressively pursue and remove anyone who threatens the safety of our communities and the national security of our country." Many of the criminal migrants removed to Mexico during the most recent period have illegally entered the U.S. numerous times. The 36-year-old Mexican national who entered the U.S. 39 times has been convicted of illegal entry four times and once for DWI, dangerous drugs and fraud. A 48-year-old now-deported Mexican national was previously removed 13 times and has 25 criminal convictions, including seven for narcotics offenses. Meanwhile, a 50-year-old Florencia 13 gang member who had been deported eight times was also booted from the country. He has convictions for domestic violence and drug possession, among other serious crimes. Two other now-deported Mexican nationals had been removed seven times and racked up 11 DWI convictions between them. The Trump administration has deported more than 100,000 illegal migrants in the 10 weeks since Donald Trump returned to the White House on Jan. 20, according to a New York Post report that cited a Department of Homeland Security official. The large totals mean the president is on course to fulfill a key campaign promise of carrying out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.
