DALLAS(AP) - Federal, local and state authorities arrested 284 immigrants with criminal records during a three-day enforcement surge across Texas.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Friday that it's the biggest operation targeting illegal criminal immigrants that they've ever conducted in the state.
ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton says Texas is safer as a result; 159 of the 284 arrested had previous convictions for violent crimes.
Arrests in the Dallas-Fort Worth area netted 119 criminal immigrants, there were 73 in San Antonio, 59 in Houston and 33 in El Paso.
Morton says those arrested came from numerous nations, including Korea, India, and Central and South America.
Thirty-five immigrants were previously deported and re-entered illegally, he said.
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