ICE quietly arrested 1,328 illegal immigrants across the D.C. suburbs in a two-week operation, including nearly 400 with criminal records.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly wrapped one of the most successful enforcement operations in the agency's history, arresting 1,328 illegal immigrants across the Washington, D.C., suburbs in a two-week sweep. The operation, dubbed "Operation Safe Community -- Washington, D.C.," ran from Aug. 1 through Aug. 14 and targeted Virginia and Maryland, two states where sanctuary-style policies have long shielded illegal aliens from federal removal. Nearly 400 of those arrested had criminal convictions or pending charges -- including murder, rape, kidnapping, and attempted murder.
The scale of the operation was not announced publicly as it unfolded. ICE sources described it as one of the agency's most successful operations to date, with officers fanning out across the D.C. region day after day to track down illegal immigrants who had slipped through the cracks of the immigration system.
All 1,328 arrests took place in Virginia and Maryland, both of which maintain sanctuary-type policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Those policies have made the region a magnet for illegal immigration, federal officials say, and have complicated enforcement efforts for years.
Fairfax County, Virginia, in particular has emerged as a flashpoint, with local officials facing scrutiny over a rise in crimes involving illegal immigrants, including violent and sexual offenses. The new operation shows federal agents are no longer willing to let local politics stand between dangerous aliens and deportation.
Of the more than 1,300 arrested, almost 400 had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. That list includes a Salvadoran national wanted in Richmond, Virginia, on a murder warrant, along with individuals accused of rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, DUI, robbery, and attempted murder.
For federal agents, the haul represents exactly what enforcement looks like when sanctuary policies are set aside: career criminals and violent offenders who had been living freely in American communities are finally facing consequences.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin praised the operation and the agents behind it. "The brave men and women of ICE are hard at work every single day getting these dangerous illegal aliens out of our country," Mullin said.
"Over the course of just two weeks in Virginia and Maryland, they arrested sexual assailants, kidnappers, drunk drivers, robbers, and gang members," he added. Mullin also took aim at local officials, saying that "while sanctuary politicians in Virginia and Maryland keep putting the needs of illegal aliens over the safety of the American people, the Trump Administration will always put American citizens first."
"By arresting and removing illegal aliens from our communities, we will make America safe again," the secretary said.
The D.C. operation is the latest sign of an immigration enforcement drive that has reshaped the agency. Under the Trump administration, ICE has posted its biggest arrest month in agency history, and operations like this one show no sign of slowing down.
For sanctuary jurisdictions, the message is increasingly hard to ignore: refusing to cooperate with federal agents does not stop enforcement -- it just concentrates it. Local officials who once dismissed federal immigration authority are now watching ICE operate at scale in their own communities.
Federal officials have signaled that more operations are likely in sanctuary regions across the country as the administration presses its deportation push. The D.C. arrests also set up fresh political battles in Virginia and Maryland, where sanctuary policies have become a defining issue heading into the midterms.
For now, the numbers speak for themselves: 1,328 illegal immigrants arrested, nearly 400 criminals removed from the streets, and a sanctuary region forced to confront the consequences of its own policies.
ICE quietly arrested 1,328 illegal immigrants across the D.C. suburbs in a two-week operation, including nearly 400 with criminal records.
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