ICE arrests convicted sex offenders

ICE teams throughout Texas arrest 50 convicted sex offenders and other criminal aliens

This is awesome! Every day at work I read reports of aliens caught on the Border who have some kind of criminal conviction, usually pretty terrible ones. The USBP Agents and the other law enforcement Agents do their best, but so many just keep on slipping through. The US Marshals do round ups, and sometimes we just get them by chance, while they’re doing something else stupid, like Drinking and Driving. It seems like ICE has had their hands tied for a while, but after they came out against the Administration a month or so ago, complaining they were being prevented from doing their jobs, they’ve been going into overtime, making up for lost time. It’s super busy right now. Since Obama announced the Dream Act, it’s a non stop flow of people trying to make it over….

So here’s this press release from ICE. Of course, since they were targeting sex offenders, you know I’m a super happy camper. Kinda awesome it came out the same day as Bravehearts put out a statement on their views on convicted sex offenders having passports.

Here’s a snippet of the ICE press release:

Following a five-day Texas-wide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation, 50 convicted alien sex offenders and other criminal aliens were arrested by officers with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).  ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) also assisted with this operation.

The goal of this operation, dubbed “SOAR” (Sex Offender Alien Removal), was to identify, locate and arrest aliens who have convictions for sex crimes, especially sex crimes against children.  This is the first statewide operation that specifically targeted this criminal element. This operation was coordinated with ERO’s 16 Fugitive Operations Teams throughout Texas, and Texas DPS.  Four Fugitive Operations Teams operated from Dallas and north Texas.

Of the 24 men arrested in north Texas, 15 had prior convictions for sex crimes such as:  indecency with a child, sexual conduct; unlawful sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child; sex offense against a child, fondling; and sexual battery of a minor. Seven of those arrested in north Texas had been previously removed from the country and illegally re-entered the United States, which is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

Bravehearts Position Statement on Child Sex Offenders and International Travel:

Recent media reports have highlighted the issue of hundreds of convicted child sex offenders travelling overseas.  In just the first two months of 2012, Australian Federal Police (AFP) statistics reported that 195 of the 143,000 offenders registered on the Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR) travelled internationally, with many offenders travelling to known, vulnerable countries.Australian Federal Police statistics show that over a quarter of these offenders travel to Denpasar, with Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Nadi, Hong Kong and Manilla among the ‘top ten’ destinations.

While the Australian Federal Police Child Protection Operations Intelligence Unit assists in monitoring individuals who are recorded on the Australian National Child Offender Register travelling overseas, tracking offenders in many countries remains exceedingly difficult.

The Australian Federal Police work closely with local authorities, alerting them when a registered offender is travelling to their country and deploying liaison officers to many international jurisdictions. However, in some cases local authorities do not have the resources, support or experience to appropriately respond.

Bravehearts position on child sex offenders and international travel is that:

On release, and until such time as the offender is no longer under supervision orders, all child sex offenders must forfeit their passport.

Where the offender is no longer under a supervision order, as long as they remain a registered person on the Australian National Child Offender Register, the offender must inform police within at least 7 days advance if they intend to travel outside of Australia.

So ICE wants sex offenders to go home, and Bravehearts wants them to stay home. If only I could get the two to team up together…

Oh, and I just noticed my face on the Bravehearts page! Cool. Hope everyone had a great White Balloon Day. I hope when the case is over, I can come back and attend some events at the next one.

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2 Replies to “ICE arrests convicted sex offenders”

  1. There’s that old saw that goes do the crime, do the time.’ But what happens after you make reutotstiin to the community. Should it be you’ve done the time, now out on your behind.’ In a just society, assuming for the moment that there is a possiblility of true justice in this society, we would try to minimize the chances of anyone going back to a life of crime and further incarceration. Therefore, housing and jobs are the basic requirements in keeping folks from recidivism. We must demand job training with a guarantee of employment upon successful completion of a course and more transitional housing so people can become stably housed sooner and start contributing as working members of society. On the other hand, is it just simpler to keep people hopeless, leave them without choices and then when they go back to old behaviors and finally get rearrested we can just keep feeding them into our prison industrial complex.’ A very vicious circle indeed. The choices are ours to make, therefore we should choose wisely.

  2. I agree that if a person have served their time, they should be allowed to rejoin society. However, if you’re a violent sexual offender AND an illegal immigrant, then once you’re done serving your time, you should be booted back to where ever you came from.
    Also, many sexual offenders are also repeat offenders, especially pedophiles who clam it’s some kind of “condition”. If you admit you can’t control it, that it’s a disease and it’s untreatable, then no free society for you.
    Do the crime, do the time, then get out of the county that you’re in illegally.

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