The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
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Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:38 PM
Sweep Of Northern California By ICE Nabs Number Of Illegals Convicted Of Violent Crimes Despite Oakland's Mayor's Obstruction Of Justice
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced this week that the four-day raid led to the arrest of 232 illegal immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Of those 232, 180 “were either convicted criminals, had been issued a final order of removal and failed to depart the United States, or had been previously removed” from the country and had come back illegally.
The arrests included 115 who "had prior felony convictions for serious or violent offenses, such as child sex crimes, weapons charges and assault, or had past convictions for significant or multiple misdemeanors."
The numbers might have been greater, but for the intervention of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who tweeted out a warning of the impending raid, tipping off others who might have been caught.
Acting ICE Director Tom Homan said on "Fox & Friends" that Schaaf’s warning meant that there are roughly 800 illegal immigrants they were unable to locate.
"What she did is no better than a gang lookout yelling 'police' when a police cruiser comes in the neighborhood, except she did it to a whole community. This is beyond the pale," he said.
An ICE spokesperson gave Fox News a list of the types of crimes for which those arrested in the raid had been convicted. They cover a range of bad behavior: aggravated assault, murder, hit-run, lewd acts with a minor, burglary, cruelty toward a child, indecent exposure, domestic violence, drug trafficking, battery, sex offenses and false imprisonment.
ICE pointed, in particular, to the case of Armando Nunez-Salgado, a Mexican gang member who had been deported four times and had convictions including assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, hit-and-run causing injury and evasion of a police officer.
ICE ARRESTS 232 PEOPLE IN FOUR-DAY RAID OF CALIFORNIA'S BAY AREA
Another deportee was a Mexican gang member with convictions for, among other things, possession of a dangerous weapon, spousal abuse, burglary and battery on a police officer.
On 'Fox & Friends,' acting ICE director says the Oakland, California mayor is intentionally putting law enforcement officers at risk by warning illegal immigrants.Video
Acting ICE Director Tom Homan: We're not going away
Officials were furious with the Oakland mayor's actions to diminish the effectiveness of the raid.
In a statement, ICE also said that recent legislation has hurt the agency’s ability to enforce immigration laws.
“Recent legislation has negatively impacted ICE operations in California by nearly eliminating all cooperation and communication with our law enforcement partners in the state by prohibiting local law enforcement from contracting with the federal government to house detainees,” the statement said.
“Ultimately, efforts by local politicians have shielded removable criminal aliens from immigration enforcement and created another magnet for more illegal immigration, all at the expense of the safety and security of the very people it purports to protect,” it said.
The White House called Mayor Schaaf’s actions “outrageous” and said the Department of Justice was conducting a review.
“I think it’s outrageous that a mayor would circumvent federal authorities and certainly put them in danger by making a move such as that,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Thursday
But Schaaf was unapologetic.
"I did what I believe was right for my community as well as to protect public safety," Schaaf said Friday, according to NBC Bay Area. "People should be able to live without fear or panic and know their rights and responsibilities as well as their recourses."
Fox News' Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a Politics Reporter and occasional Opinion writer for FoxNews.com. He can be reached here or on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.