U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released some information about the two dozen people who were arrested on Aug. 19 near Bellefonte, but has provided few details on most of those who were taken into custody.
According to ICE, one of the men arrested had previously been arrested for homicide in El Salvador. According to ICE, he’s an illegal immigrant suspected of being an MS-13 gang member.
Another one of those arrested is here from Honduras illegally, and has a criminal record that includes convictions for assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in 2011, according to the ICE news release.
The arrests were part of a targeted enforcement operation and happened during traffic stops near Interstate-99 in Bellefonte.
“ICE is focusing on the worst first through targeted enforcement. However, it is also a crime to live in this country illegally,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia Field Office Director Brian McShane in a news release. “Knowing this, ICE has been empowered to vigorously search out, arrest and remove anyone violating federal immigration law.”
According to the Centre County Rapid Response Network, a group working to protect immigrants from being deported, the men were on their way to construction jobs when the arrests took place.
In a statement, the group says it’s focused on "protecting the constitutional right to due process. If we take this right away from some, we run the risk of taking it away from all."
The release from ICE says of the 24 who were arrested, seven have final deportation orders, four have deportation orders that were reinstated and four had previously been deported under Title 42, the COVID-era policy that allowed border patrol agents to turn away migrants without the normal proceedings. ICE did not provide information on the remaining seven who were arrested.
