The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says a Haitian is among 138 convicted sex offenders arrested in a national immigration sweep.
ICE said its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers also apprehended persons with an executable final order of removal during the nationwide enforcement effort.
According to ICE the 44-year-old Haitian citizen, living in Queens Village in New York City, was arrested along with citizens from Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The unidentified Haitian was convicted by the Queens County Supreme Court of rape in the second degree, promoting prostitution in the second degree, and promoting prostitution in the third degree in September 2017.
“Crimes of sexual violence are among the most underreported in the United States. Anyone can be a victim of this type of abuse, and our officers are dedicated to locating and apprehending known noncitizen offenders as part of their public safety mission,” said ERO Executive Associate Director Corey A. Price.
“ERO will continue efforts such as these to remove unlawfully present individuals who have committed crimes against the innocent, so they cannot continue to harm vulnerable populations within our communities,” he added.
ICE said this enforcement operation was implemented to address unlawfully present noncitizens convicted of sex offences and cases amenable to US federal criminal prosecution may be presented to the appropriate US attorney’s office.
Last year, ICE said 12,025 individuals with aggravated felony convictions were arrested.
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