(Texas Scorecard) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 422 illegal aliens in the Houston area as part of a targeted enforcement operation aimed at aliens with serious criminal histories.
One of the individuals arrested was released into the community by the Biden administration despite being a convicted murderer.
Of the 422 taken into custody, ICE reported that:
- 262 have prior criminal convictions
- 34 have pending charges
- 126 face other immigration violations
- 229 have final orders of removal
This crackdown is part of a broader federal effort focused on deporting illegal aliens with criminal histories. Earlier this year, a similar operation in Houston led to 646 arrests, including 543 illegals with criminal convictions and seven known gang members.
Bret Bradford, director of the Houston field office for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, told Fox News that his team uses detailed database research to identify the “worst of the worst” – those considered the most significant public safety threats.
Bradford explained how ICE prioritized which illegal aliens to arrest, saying, “We want to kind of combine the worst of the worst plus the ones we have the most likelihood of encountering and arresting, trying to merge those two things together to come up with the top targets.”
Houston has one of the largest illegal alien populations in the U.S., estimated at over half a million people. The Houston Police Department does have a policy to notify ICE if a suspect in their custody is determined to have an active immigration warrant.
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R–Houston) praised the operation, writing in a post on X: “Let’s keep up the good work!”