‘Serious criminal histories’: ICE lands major busts across sanctuary cities in single-day raid

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday lauded the arrests of five different illegal migrants with “serious” criminal backgrounds across Maryland in a single-day raid.

Deportation officers on Oct. 18 apprehended several criminal aliens living unlawfully in the United States and have rap sheets that include cartel association, drug distribution, sexual assault, and other crimes, ICE confirmed in a press release. The announcement follows other major crackdowns the agency has made in the state, which is home to a slate of jurisdictions that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“This targeted operation resulted in the arrest of five noncitizens with serious criminal histories including fentanyl distribution, gang activity, drug cartel association, assault, and sexual assault,” Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore Field Office Director Matthew Elliston said of the raid. “ERO Baltimore will not tolerate these egregious noncitizen offenders victimizing our Maryland communities.”

Among those apprehended included Romeo Almengor Oxlaj-Lopez, a 24-year-old Guatemalan national and documented gang member who was convicted by the Montgomery County Circuit Court for second-degree assault, Denis Flores-Alvardo, a 38-year-old Honduran arrested by the Howard County Police Department for DUI and driving with a handgun and Noe Antonio Machado-Medrano, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national convicted of intent to distribute fentanyl, according to ICE.

Deportation officers also apprehended Jose Edgar Rivas-Arevalo, a 41-year-old previously deported Salvadoran national who was later convicted of second-degree assault by the District Court of Baltimore County, and Justin Jeremiah Johnson, an 18-year-old Trinidadian national who legally entered the U.S., but violated the terms of his admission and was convicted of robbery by the Baltimore City Circuit Court, according to ICE.

Several of the localities involved in the Oct. 18 raid are labeled as “sanctuary” jurisdictions by immigration analysts. Baltimore County, Howard County, and Montgomery County are all identified as sanctuary cities for laws that largely restrict how local law enforcement can cooperate and interact with ICE agents, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

ICE agents working out of the Baltimore field office, which largely covers Maryland’s state borders, have landed major successes in their recent operations.

Baltimore field agents arrested 161 non-citizen sex offenders in the 2024 fiscal year, a spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation in September. The number marked an office record for any single year, surpassing the previous record of 152 sex offenders nabbed by ICE agents in one fiscal year.

Deportation officers across the U.S. will likely see their activities increase once President-elect Donald Trump enters office. The president-elect has pledged to embark on the largest deportation operation in the history of the U.S. and has also indicated he will use an emergency declaration and military assets to help reach this goal.

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