Six foreign nationals from Manatee arrested in statewide ICE sweep

MIAMI -- Six criminal foreign nationals were arrested in Manatee County in September as part of a three-week statewide sweep by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Manatee suspects are part of 314 criminal foreign nationals arrested in an enforcement action targeting individuals who pose a threat to public safety.

ICE enforcement and removal operations officers made the arrests.

All of those arrested by ICE during the enforcement action, which concluded Sept. 29, met at least one of the agency's three enforcement priorities. More than one-quarter had criminal records with felony convictions for serious or violent offenses such as murder, child sex crimes, sex offenses, weapons charges and drug violations.

Miami-Dade County led with 81 arrests. Broward followed with 62 arrests and Palm Beach had 31.

Reached by phone Thursday, ICE public affairs officer Tammy Spicer was unable to provide additional information on the arrestees out of Manatee County.

"As this operation makes clear, ICE is committed to prioritizing convicted criminals and those who are public safety threats for apprehension and removal," said Marc Moore, field office director for the Miami Field Office of ERO, in a written statement. "Our communities are safer today thanks to the hard work of our officers across the state."

Five years ago, ICE officers arrested 93 foreign nationals with criminal records and two others during a five-day enforcement action in Florida, which targeted convicted criminal foreign nationals in violation of U.S. immigration law, according to a 2010 release.

Miami-Dade County also led with 25 arrests followed by eight in Broward County.

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Six foreign nationals from Manatee arrested in statewide ICE sweep ."