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OrlandoSentinel.com Immigration sweep nabs 49, including 24 in Orange County
Victor Manuel Ramos Sentinel Staff Writer August 26, 2008 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 49 fugitives and immigration violators in a Florida sweep that included 24 Orange County residents, an agency spokeswoman said Monday. The arrests, part of a three-day operation last week, continued a push to apprehend and remove immigrants who had been ordered deported because they had committed criminal acts or because their requests to stay had been denied, spokeswoman Nicole Navas said Five of those caught were illegal immigrants without criminal records or pending deportation orders. Agents caught immigrants from countries including Brazil, China, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago in the operation. All will be returned to their countries. Of those arrested, 44 were considered fugitives, including five who had criminal histories. They include an Orlando man identified as Jos? Erasmo de la Rosa, a Dominican immigrant who had a conviction for performing a lewd act on a child younger than 16. The 35-year-old man arrived in the U.S. in 1989, apparently as a legal immigrant, but lost his status because of the crime. Twenty-five arrests took place in Palm Beach. The agency has stepped up its efforts to find and remove immigrants in the country illegally during the past several years. More than 280,000 were deported nationally in 2007, with nearly 9,000 of those sent away from Florida. |
