ICE arrests 179 in largest ever local operation targeting illegal alien fugitives and immigration violators

LAS VEGAS - In a major six-day operation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from three states fanned out across Clark County, arresting a total of 179 immigration violators, many of whom have outstanding orders of deportation.

As a result of the enforcement effort, which concluded yesterday, more than 130 of the aliens taken into custody have already been removed from the United States.

The arrests are part of ICE's national fugitive operations initiative, an enforcement strategy targeting illegal aliens who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge and failed to comply with those orders. It is estimated there are more than 500,000 such fugitive aliens currently in the United States.

“Taking immigration fugitives off of our streets is a top ICE priority,” said John Torres, the national director of ICE detention and removal operations. “The people targeted in this operation had 'their day in court,' and were ordered deported by an immigration judge. Those immigration fugitives who remain at large should be on notice - the days when you could brazenly ignore an immigration judge's order are over. We are going to find you and send you home.”