Agency deports 62 in O.C.

A two-week immigration enforcement push netted 62 people in Orange County and a total of 1,327 people in the Southland suspected of violating immigration laws, federal officials said Wednesday.

In an action being called one of the largest enforcement operations in the four-year history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the vast majority of those arrested either had criminal histories or have ignored deportation orders, and close to half already have been deported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.

Federal statistics showed 530 of the suspected immigration violators were picked up in the community, and the remaining 797 people were identified at city and county jails where they were already in custody.

A city-by-city breakdown was not available, but information for Orange County indicated seven of the people arrested were “fugitive aliens” — meaning they didn’t comply with deportation orders, six had criminal histories, eight were fugitives with criminal backgrounds, and 41 were non-fugitive, non-criminals.

Most of the arrestees — 1,103 people — came from Mexico, but others were from 29 countries including Guatemala, Honduras, Sweden, Jordan and Ireland.

While recent federal sweeps have been decried by some immigration rights activists, one group was cautiously accepting of the strategy in this particular operation because it targeted people with criminal backgrounds.

“To the extent that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] uses its enforcement ability to help ensure public safety, we obviously have no problem with that,” said Nicholas Espíritu, a staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in Los Angeles. “That’s an essential part of their job.”

However, the agency has been watching recent raids with a critical eye because “We do have concern for a climate of fear that they create in the community,” Espíritu said. “This is not a solution to the immigration issues here in the United States.”

With Immigration and Customs Enforcement getting what Kice called “unprecedented resources,” the agency may continue to step up enforcement. Finding fugitives and criminals is a top priority, she said, and local law enforcement is cooperating more than ever before. The number of immigrants in the U.S. who ignored deportation orders dropped for the first time this year.

“[Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s] goal is to essentially eliminate the backlog of immigrant fugitives,” Kice said. “We’re hopeful that when people realize we are pursuing these types of cases more people will show up for their immigration hearings and more people will comply with court removal orders.”

ALICIA ROBINSON may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at alicia.robinson@latimes.com.