During the first 100 days following President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order on immigration and border enforcement, arrests of criminal aliens increased dramatically. ICE officials report an increase in arrests of these immigrants of 37.6 percent when compared to the same period the previous year.
President Trump signed the order on January 22. Between then and April 29, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested 41,318 individuals known or suspected of being in the United States illegally, according to a statement released by ICE on Wednesday.
ICE officials reported that nearly three-fourths of those arrested during the 100-day period are convicted criminals. Many had charges or convictions that include homicide, assault, sexual abuse, and drug-related offenses. During the same 100-day period in 2016, officers arrested 25,786 aliens with criminal histories. This year, the number of arrests rose to 30,473, officials reported. This represents an increase of 20 percent over the same period. More than 2,700 of these criminal aliens are reported to have violent histories that include rape, homicide, and assaults.
Agents also arrested 50 percent more “aliens at-large in the community.” During 2016, officers arrested 8,381 immigrants, while in 2017 they arrested 12,776.
