The Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday, November 2, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 15 people across the country over the weekend, every one of them a non-citizen who, according to the department, had already been convicted of a serious crime in the United States — including manslaughter, criminal rape of a child and first-degree rape. The arrests were announced in a DHS news release issued in Washington on Monday, the day before Tuesday's midterm elections.

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security

“While Americans enjoyed their weekends, the brave patriots of ICE were working around the clock to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our communities, including murderers, pedophiles, and rapists,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in the release. “Sanctuary politicians do not change ICE's mission nor its obligation to enforce the law. Every crime committed by an illegal alien is 100% preventable.” The phrase “criminal illegal aliens” is the department's own term for the people arrested; each person on the list is identified by DHS with a specific past conviction, a county or court where that conviction was recorded, and a country of origin.

The homicide-related cases

Gerardo Ruiz Castillo, from Honduras, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon in Clark County, Nevada, DHS said. Priscila Antonia Regalado Vazquez, from Mexico, was convicted of homicide – negligent manslaughter with a vehicle in Gallatin, Tennessee. Marvin Wilfredo Ruano-Vides, from Honduras, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and illegal re-entry in Chelsea, New Jersey. Those three cases involve deaths that were already decided in U.S. courts before this weekend's arrests; DHS did not announce any new homicide charges against them.

The child sex-offence and rape cases

The largest group on the list involves crimes against children, and no victim is named in the release. Jair Fernandes De Oliveira-Junior, from Brazil, was convicted in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, of criminal rape of a child, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and kidnapping. Salvador Leon-Vasquez, from El Salvador, was convicted in Franklin County, Washington, of first-degree and second-degree child molestation. Jose Enrique Garcia-Vazquez, from Mexico, was convicted in Santa Clara, California, of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14. Andres Acosta-Martinez, from Honduras, was convicted in Sampson County, North Carolina, of indecent liberties with a child. William Gonzalez-Luna, from Mexico, was convicted in Santa Maria, California, of sex with a minor more than three years younger. Hector Medina-Baldovinos, from Mexico, was convicted in Dakota County, Nebraska, of attempted sexual assault of a child.

Three more men were listed with rape or sexual-contact convictions: Carlos Cedillo-Morales, from Mexico, convicted of first-degree rape in Buncombe County, North Carolina; Mario Rodriguez-Ramirez, from Mexico, convicted of rape in Nashville, Tennessee; and Carlos Junnior Castro-Gonzales, from Peru, convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact in Saddle River, New Jersey.

The remaining arrests

Santiago Gudino, from Mexico, was convicted of assault, participating in racketeering activity and cocaine sale in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Byron Alberto Ramos-Alvarado, from El Salvador, was convicted of second-degree aggravated assault in Dover, Delaware. Abdulkerim Kedir Halid, from Ethiopia, was convicted of armed robbery in Montgomery County, Maryland. DHS directed readers to its public page at WOW.DHS.gov, where it publishes photographs and summaries of people it describes as public-safety threats arrested in communities across the country.

Source: Jurelist (summary of DHS release)

Background: a rolling series of weekend lists

This is the latest in a rolling series of DHS “worst of the worst” releases, in which the department publishes weekend immigration arrests of people with past criminal convictions. Awaaz Punjab reported a similar DHS list on October 27 naming five people. The format is the same each time: a statement from the Homeland Security Secretary, a named list with convictions, and a link to the WOW.DHS.gov page. Immigration lawyers and immigrant advocates have long made a separate point about such lists: they concern a specific group of people with convictions, and they are not a description of immigrant communities as a whole, the overwhelming majority of whom have no criminal record. Nothing in Monday's release changes the legal position of lawful permanent residents or other immigrants who have not been convicted of a crime.

Why this matters to our readers

Two of the convictions on the list come from California communities with large Punjabi and wider South Asian populations — Santa Clara County, home to San Jose, and Santa Maria in Santa Barbara County — and others come from New Jersey, Washington state and North Carolina, all states with Punjabi diaspora communities and Punjabi trucking corridors. For diaspora readers, the practical point is the distinction the release itself draws: ICE said these 15 arrests targeted people already convicted of named serious offences. Readers who are stopped or questioned in any enforcement encounter keep their existing rights, including the right to ask to speak to a lawyer, whatever their status.

What happens next

DHS did not publish court dates or removal dates for any of the 15 people. People arrested by ICE on the basis of past convictions are normally placed in immigration custody and removal proceedings, where an immigration judge decides whether they will be deported; some may also face separate prosecution if prosecutors allege a further offence such as illegal re-entry. The department said more cases of people it describes as public-safety threats can be seen on its WOW.DHS.gov page, and it has been issuing these lists on a near-weekly rhythm, so a further weekend list is likely in the coming days.