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SoCal Illegals Sent Packing in Massive Sweep

Feds nab 1,300+ in biggest-ever roundup of immigrants

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 3, 2007 9:43 AM CDT

(Newser) – Feds have arrested more than 1,300 immigrants in Southern California over the last two weeks, in what Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is calling its biggest roundup ever. Ninety percent have criminal records or standing deportation orders, and 600 have already been deported, reports the LA Times. “Where these laws may not have been enforced in the past, that has changed,” said ICE.

Police stressed that most arrested were criminals and not “just people looking for work,” and said communities were buying it. “We are not going down the street asking people for their immigration status,” a sheriff said. But immigration activists call it a “narrow-minded, mean-spirited” effort, which breaks up families while ignoring larger problems with the system.

Customs To Merge Into Department Of Homeland Security
Customs To Merge Into Department Of Homeland Security   (Getty Images)
Migrants Attempt To Illegally Cross Mexican Border Into California
Migrants Attempt To Illegally Cross Mexican Border Into California   (Getty Images)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrest a suspect during a pre-dawn raid in Santa Ana, Calif., in this file photo from Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007.  The Census Bureau plans to ask immigration enforcement officials to suspend raids during the 2010 census to help improve accuracy in counting illegal immigrants....
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrest a suspect during a pre-dawn raid in Santa Ana, Calif., in this file photo from Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007. The Census Bureau plans to ask immigration...   (Associated Press)
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