Three Trinis among 91 held in NJ immigration raids

THREE Trinidadians were among 91 foreign nationals who were arrested during a five-day operation conducted by the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) two weeks ago in New Jersey.

A release on the ICE website said of those arrested during the operation, which was spearheaded by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and targeted at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and other immigration violators, 77 per cent were convicted criminals and 70 per cent of them had prior felony convictions.

“This operation focuses on the arrest of individuals convicted of serious crimes and are a threat to public safety. Because of the targeted efforts of these professional officers, there are 91 fewer criminals in our communities,” said Field Office Director of ERO Newark John Tsoukaris.

The nationalities of the individuals arrested throughout New Jersey were: Anguilla, one; Bangladesh one; Cameroon, one; Colombia, four; Cuba, three, Dominican Republic, 14; Ecuador, four; Egypt, one; El Salvador, ten; Ghana, one; Guatemala, three; Guinea, one; Guyana, two; Haiti, three; Honduras, four; Jamaica, three; Korea, two; Macedonia, two; Mexico, 12; Nicaragua, one; Pakistan, two; Philippines, four; Peru, four; Poland, one; Spain, one; St Lucia, one; Trinidad, three; and two from Venezuela.

The ages of those arrested range from 19 to 78-years-old and all were previously convicted of a variety of offences including: sexual assault on a minor, child abuse, possession of narcotics, distribution of narcotics, money laundering, DUI, fraud, domestic violence, theft, possession of a weapon, burglary, larceny, aggravated assault, aggravated assault on law enforcement, resisting arrest, endangering the welfare of a child, kidnapping and illegal re-entry. Among those held were El-Salvadorian and Venezuelan members of the international criminal gang MS-13 and a 24-year-old Jamaican national who has convictions of endangering the welfare of a child and lewdness. It was not reported what offences the Trinidadians were held for.

The individuals will go through removal proceedings before an immigration judge or for those under a final order of removal, arrangements will be made to remove them from the US, the release said.