US authorities arrested 2,900 illegal immigrants with criminal records during a seven-day nation-wide sweep, the biggest of its kind, immigration officials said Wednesday. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said the operation, which it dubbed "Cross Check," "led to the arrest of more than 2,900 convicted criminal aliens."
The operation was carried out over a one-week period in all 50 US states and overseas territories, as part of the US administration's strategy to focus on people with criminal records who are in the country illegally.
Of those detained, 1,282 had multiple convictions to their name, and more than 1,600 had served sentences for crimes like armed robbery, attempted murder, kidnapping or drug trafficking, the agency said. It said 681 of those detained had been expelled from the United States after being convicted of crimes but returned to the country illegally, it said.
The United States has expelled 350,000 illegal immigrants a year on average over the past three years - a record high - and about half of them had criminal records. The agency has carried out operations like "Cross Check" before, but this was the first time it has done so simultaneously throughout the country.
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