Federal immigration agents arrested 1,328 illegal immigrants across Washington, D.C., and surrounding Maryland and Virginia communities during a two-week operation, including roughly 400 people with prior criminal convictions, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 1,300 illegal immigrants during a two-week enforcement operation across Washington, D.C., and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs, marking another major regional action as the Trump administration continues implementing its mass-deportation agenda.
The Department of Homeland Security said ICE agents apprehended 1,328 people during the operation, according to information provided to Fox News.
Roughly 400 of those arrested had prior criminal convictions, DHS said.
The group included individuals previously convicted of serious offenses including attempted murder, robbery and rape, along with other crimes.
The operation focused primarily on Washington and surrounding suburban jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia.
Many of those communities have sanctuary policies that limit the extent to which local authorities cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, creating circumstances in which ICE agents must often locate and arrest removable immigrants in communities rather than taking custody of them directly from local jails.
The arrests come as President Donald Trump’s administration continues pursuing the immigration enforcement and deportation policies Trump promised during his presidential campaign.
The administration has sought to substantially increase arrests and removals of people living in the United States illegally, with particular emphasis on those who have criminal histories.
The Washington-area operation illustrates the scale of the administration’s continuing enforcement effort, with more than 1,300 arrests made within a two-week period across the District of Columbia and portions of neighboring Maryland and Virginia.
It also comes as the administration has adopted a less publicly visible approach to some immigration enforcement operations than the strategy employed under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Despite the quieter presentation, the latest figures indicate that large-scale ICE operations are continuing.
DHS said nearly one-third of those taken into custody during the Washington-area enforcement action had prior criminal convictions.
The inclusion of individuals convicted of attempted murder, robbery and rape underscores the administration’s stated focus on removing illegal immigrants with serious criminal records while conducting broader immigration enforcement throughout communities where local policies may restrict cooperation with federal authorities.
The operation also highlights the continuing confrontation between the federal government and sanctuary jurisdictions, which generally decline to honor some ICE detention requests or restrict information-sharing and other forms of assistance with federal immigration authorities.
Those policies do not prevent ICE from conducting federal enforcement actions, but they can require agents to carry out arrests after individuals have been released into communities rather than transferring them directly from local custody.
The 1,328 arrests across the Washington metropolitan area represent one of the administration’s larger concentrated enforcement actions as it continues seeking to expand deportations nationwide.
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