Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a large-scale operation resulting in the arrest of over 530 illegal immigrants, including individuals convicted of heinous crimes such as child sexual abuse and gang-related activities.

The arrests, part of a broader deportation initiative, reflect the ongoing efforts under the Trump administration to enforce immigration laws.

According to official statistics, as of 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, ICE had made 373 criminal arrests and 165 non-criminal arrests.

The operation also led to more than 1,000 removals or repatriations.

Among those detained were 16 gang members, including four affiliated with the notorious Tren de Aragua criminal organization.

ICE records detail several significant arrests across the country. In Buffalo, New York, agents detained an Ecuadorian national previously convicted of rape.

Pedro Julio Mejia, a national of the Dominican Republic, was also arrested in Buffalo for a conviction of sexual conduct against a child.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, agents apprehended Cristofer Alexander Ramirez-Oliva, a Honduran national convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

In San Francisco, Ariel Rene Romice-Patino, a Mexican national, was arrested for his prior conviction of sexual exploitation of a child, for which he received a 62-month prison sentence.

Additionally, agents arrested Magdaleno Zenen Hernandez Garcia, another Mexican national, convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child aged 14 or younger.

ICE agents also arrested Gokhan Adriguzel, a Turkish national identified as a known or suspected terrorist, in New York.

In Chicago, agents detained Rimon Aparicio-Pimentel, a Mexican national with a prior conviction for attempted murder.

Aparicio-Pimentel was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his crime. Despite an ICE detainer being filed in 2017, local authorities did not honor it, and he was released without notifying ICE.

These arrests are part of the administration’s broader deportation campaign, which has ramped up significantly since President Trump took office.

Before Thursday’s operation, ICE had made 460 arrests since Trump’s inauguration.

President Trump has vowed to “seal” the border and implement what he described as a historic deportation effort.

On his first day in office, he signed 10 executive orders targeting immigration enforcement, including restarting construction of a border wall, ending parole programs, limiting birthright citizenship, and deploying military resources to the border.

Additionally, the administration eliminated the Biden-era policy that restricted ICE operations in “sensitive places” and removed limits on the use of expedited removals, enabling quicker deportations.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the operation, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to fulfilling campaign promises.

“The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” Leavitt wrote on X. “Promises made. Promises kept.”

.@karolineleavitt: “President Trump is using every lever of his executive power to secure our nation’s borders… He is sending a very clear message to the rest of the world, if you are even thinking for a single second about illegally entering our country and breaking the laws… pic.twitter.com/yMQfdcfPgY

— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) January 22, 2025

The recent arrests also included individuals flagged by Interpol Red Notices, MS-13 members, and violent offenders with extensive criminal histories.

In one case observed by Fox News, ICE agents in Boston apprehended a Haitian gang member with 18 prior convictions who declared to cameras,

“I ain’t going back to Haiti” and added an expletive-laden statement in favor of Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

NEW: Haitian man says “F*ck Trump, Biden forever,” gets arrested by ICE’s elite Boston unit to be deported.

The ultimate FAFO.

The arrest was part of a Boston raid on the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens, as reported by @BillMelugin_.

“It’s a frigid five degrees in… pic.twitter.com/83XgPMgNlt

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 23, 2025

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