U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Press Release
ATLANTA—Six citizens of Guatemala who had been evading lawful orders of removal were arrested here Tuesday by detention and removal officers assigned to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Fugitive Operation Task Force.
Among the arrested was Arnulfo Laynez-Mendez, 28, who had been hiding for the past nine months. Mendez entered the country illegally on March 10, 1998. He was found ineligible for any form of immigration relief and was ordered removed by an immigration judge in Nov. 2004.
“We are committed to restoring integrity to our nation’s immigration system by identifying and removing those with no legal right to remain in the country,” said John A. Mata, field office director for detention and removal in Atlanta. “Those who think they can evade justice are sorely mistaken. We are looking for you and we will find you as mandated by law.”
All of those arrested are in ICE Custody at the Atlanta Pre-Trial Detention Center awaiting removal from the country.
The Atlanta office is home to one of the 18 absconder teams nationwide tasked with locating and apprehending aliens who attempt to hide in the United States despite the lawful orders of immigration judges who have ordered the aliens to leave the country.
In Atlanta, ICE has arrested more than 600 criminal aliens since the beginning of fiscal year 2005. ICE removed over 3,392 illegal aliens from the Atlanta area in fiscal year 2004; 2,105 were criminal aliens.
Just 19,994,000 to go.
Posted by Richard at September 16, 2005