CHICAGO – In its first major enforcement action under the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a nationwide operation resulting in over 460 arrests, including in Illinois.

The crackdown targeted undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

What we know:

Between January 21 and January 22, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested individuals with charges or convictions including sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and drug offenses.

Arrests occurred in multiple states, including Illinois, Utah, California, Minnesota, New York, Florida and Maryland.

ICE also issued more than 420 detainers—requests to notify ICE when undocumented individuals are released from custody. These requests targeted individuals charged with severe crimes such as homicide, sexual assault, and robbery.

The Illinois Connection:

Illinois was one of several states where arrests were carried out during the operation. While specific details on arrests in Illinois were not disclosed, the state’s inclusion reflects its role as a focal point for immigration enforcement.

The arrests come as the Trump administration is moving rapidly to fulfill its promise to launch a historic mass deportation operation, which it has said will focus primarily – but not exclusively – on public safety threats.

This week, the administration made a slew of moves to make it happen, including a barrage of executive orders by President Trump and subsequent moves by his cabinet agencies.

Fox News reported Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security has removed limits from powers of expedited removal, a day after it rescinded a Biden-era memo restricting where ICE can conduct enforcement operations.

ICE detention facilities that fall under the Chicago jurisdiction, but are not located in Illinois, include: Boone County Jail, Chase County Jail, Clay County Jail, Dodge Detention Facility and Kay County Detention Facility.

What they’re saying:

According to President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, ICE is prioritizing public safety threats but will also target individuals in sanctuary cities.

“Right out of the gate it’s public safety threats, those who are in the country illegally that have been convicted, arrested for serious crime,” Homan said. “But let me be clear. There’s not only public safety threats that will be arrested, because in sanctuary cities, we’re not allowed to get that public safety threat in the jail, which means we got to go to the neighborhood and find him.”

Big picture view:

The arrests mark one of the first significant steps in the Trump administration’s broader immigration enforcement strategy. By rescinding previous limitations on ICE’s powers and issuing a series of executive orders, the administration has signaled its intent to enforce immigration laws aggressively.

Arrests in this first operation include:

• A Mexican national, Jesus Perez, arrested in Salt Lake City, charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
• An inadmissible Mexican national, Adan Pablo-Ramirez, arrested in Illinois with convictions for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
• A Honduran national, Franklin Osorto-Cruz, convicted of driving while intoxicated. He was arrested in New York.
• A Jamaican national, Kamaro Denver Haye, arrested for “promote a sexual performance by a child less than 17 years of age and possessing sexual performance by child less than 16 years of age: possess/access to view.”
• A Mexican national, Jesus Baltazar Mendoza, convicted of 2nd degree assault of a child. He was arrested in St. Paul.
• Colombian national Andres Orjuela Parra, who was arrested in San Francisco. He has a conviction of sexual penetration with a foreign object on an unaware victim.
• Six illegal immigrants in Miami from Guatemala, with criminal histories including battery, child abuse, fraud, resisting arrest, DWI, trespassing and vandalism.

Meanwhile, Fox News’ Bill Melugin was on the ground in Boston, where agents arrested multiple MS-13 gang members, Interpol Red Notices, and murder and rape suspects.

The Source: The information in this article was obtained by Fox News Digital from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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