ICE, Virginia Attorney General announce arrests of 171 criminal alien sex offenders in Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. - U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell and the Virginia State Police today announced a major law enforcement action to remove 171 convicted criminal alien sex offenders from Virginia. ICE called this "Operation Cold Play," and said it was a component of "Operation Predator,” which is a multi-year effort targeted at sex offenders nationwide. Today's announcement concludes Phase I of this ongoing operation.

In 2006, Attorney General Bob McDonnell worked with the Virginia General Assembly on numerous improvements to Virginia's Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry. In July 2007, the Attorney General requested that the Virginia State Police check the birthplace of each individual on the Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, and share this information with ICE. The Virginia State Police turned the names over to ICE in July 2007.

ICE agents ran the list against two different federal databases. The process led to the following findings and action:

• 84 Convicted criminal alien sex offenders on the list had already left the country or been deported
• 135 Convicted criminal alien sex offenders were incarcerated in the Commonwealth of Virginia (state and local facilities) and are now being processed for removal from the U.S. upon completion of their incarceration
• 36 Convicted criminal alien sex offenders have been recently taken into federal custody through a joint action involving ICE and Virginia State Police and have been put into removal proceedings.