Feds Arrest 3K Immigrants in Massive Roundup

Obama administration calls it biggest illegals sweep ever
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 2, 2012 6:16 PM CDT
Feds Arrest 3K Immigrants in Massive Roundup
In this March 30, 2012 photo, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents take a suspect into custody as part of a nationwide immigration sweep in Chula Vista, Calif.   (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Federal officers rounded up more than 3,100 immigrants today in what the Obama administration called the biggest-ever sweep of illegals across the US, the AP reports. The six-day operation, involving more than 1,900 officers and agents, focused on apprehending immigrants who were fugitives or had serious rap sheets. Others had ignored previous orders to leave the country. "There are 3,168 fewer criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators in our neighborhoods," said top immigration officer John Morton.

The round-up exemplifies President Obama's decision to pursue allegedly dangerous immigrants—a policy that tries to thread the needle between so-called "amnesty" and the deportation of illegals without a criminal record, the Huffington Post reports. Two previous round-ups, last September and last May, together netted more than 5,300 immigrants. Immigrant communities and Latinos are eyeing Obama's policy cautiously, the AP says, because immigrants are being kicked out in record numbers—nearly 400,000 a year since 2009. (More illegal immigrants stories.)

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