The Justice Department announced 189 illegal immigrants were arrested in Washington, D.C., last week after an operation that occurred roughly around the same time federal immigration officers visited several restaurants in the area.
The DOJ billed the crackdown as part of the “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful” initiative and did not mention specifically where the operation took place. It said it focused on “egregious criminal alien offenders” in the D.C. area from May 6 to 9. Outgoing Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin said the arrests are “a major step forward in making Washington, D.C., safer for legal citizens and their families.”
Several restaurants in Washington reported visits last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with requests for completion of I-9 forms to verify the legality of their employees. Law enforcement officials said at the time that no arrests were made with the notices of inspection.
The DOJ did not connect the two operations in its Tuesday release, which listed some of the illegal immigrants targeted by the operation, including alleged criminal immigrants with multiple past crimes on their record from Guatemala.
“Working with our partner agencies, ICE officers and agents arrested 189 illegal aliens and removed them from the streets of our Nation’s Capital. Throughout this enhanced enforcement operation, we targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in the city of Washington, D.C. Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations D.C. Field Office Director Russell Hott said in a statement.
“I commend the efforts of everyone involved, as all were truly committed to the success of this operation. ICE Washington, D.C., remains dedicated to our mission of prioritizing public safety by arresting and removing criminal offenders from our Nation’s Capital and surrounding communities,” Hott added.
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The Trump administration has taken a keen interest in Washington, vowing to curb crime and improve public safety in the district. President Donald Trump urged local officials to clean up homeless encampments and make other changes, and he threatened federal intervention into the district’s home rule if improvements are not made.
The president’s March executive order, “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” called for “directing maximum enforcement of Federal immigration law and redirecting available Federal, State, or local law enforcement resources to apprehend and deport illegal aliens in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area,” among other efforts.