A total of 16,368 people were apprehended by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in San Diego County between Jan. 20 and April 1 this year, the agency revealed Wednesday.
The data came in a letter response to Rep. Mike Levin, who expressed concerns about ICE’s tactics during operations in Oceanside and requested information about the warrants involved and the detainees’ criminal records.
The latter was not provided.
“ICE possesses the unambiguous statutory authority to arrest and remove aliens unlawfully present in the United States, no matter the extent of their criminal histories,” the letter from the agency read.
President Donald Trump had previously pledged to go after the “worst of the worst” immigrants in the country illegally, but many of those being arrested, put in ICE camps and deported have committed a civil misdemeanor and no other offenses, The Guardian reported in February.
“I suspect these high numbers are part of [White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy] Stephen Miller’s demands to meet high detention quotas. What this letter does not answer is how many detainees and removals had a criminal record. That is a question that deserves an answer,” Levin said.
“I expect ICE to keep even more data than this, and they need to be able to provide information on where they are detaining individuals and why. This type of oversight — requiring ICE to do public reporting — is something I will continue to advocate for. This letter paints only half the picture, not a full one.”
Of the more than 16,000 removals by ICE in the first quarter of the year, 10,847 were Mexican nationals, 996 from Guatemala and 544 from Venezuela with smaller figures from 116 other countries.
“I appreciate ICE’s response, and it is largely consistent with what we believed to be occurring in San Diego. However, the numbers in this letter are quite troubling,” said Rep. Scott Peters.
“When President Trump took office, he promised the American people that his immigration agenda would target the ‘worst of the worst,’ yet this letter raises serious questions: Are the 16,000 individuals who were removed from San Diego the ‘worst of the worst?’ Do they have criminal records, or are these removals simply part of a broader effort to hit an arbitrary quota by this administration? Our constituents deserve to know who is being removed from their communities and why.”
The American Immigration Council reported in April that two out of every three “at-large” arrests during the winter were of “people with no criminal record and just 17% had any prior criminal conviction. And out of that group, just one-third were classified as the most serious offenders by ICE.”
In March, San Diego County filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration after federal officials blocked a public health inspection of the Otay Mesa Immigrant Detention Center.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was named in preliminary documents but she has since been replaced in the role by former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
County officials say detainees have reported freezing temperatures, untreated medical conditions and food unfit for human consumption at the facility, prompting requests for elected officials and public health personnel to inspect the prison.
However, the county’s public health officer was only given limited approval to view the facility last month, while a group of elected officials that included Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, and County Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Paloma Aguirre were denied entry.
San Diego County Public Health Officer Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan’s inspection did not include access to medical records, confidential interviews with detainees and facility health policies, officials said.
“It’s disappointing but not surprising that ICE won’t admit the truth — that they’re not targeting `the worst of the worst,’ and are instead attempting to eliminate all forms of legal immigration,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs in response to Wednesday’s letter from ICE.
“ICE removed over 16,000 people from San Diego — our friends, neighbors, and hardworking people — who deserve due process, and not to be disappeared without a trace. San Diegans need real answers about what’s happening to people in our community, and this letter response from ICE is a joke. We will keep pressing for actual answers.”
Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, said the agency was acting inside its legal purview and had a duty to act — even if a person has not yet committed a crime other than illegal entry into the United States.
“Additionally, some aliens have committed crimes in their countries of origin or last country of known residence, but those criminal histories are unknown to U.S. law enforcement,” he wrote in the letter. “An untold number of other crimes have been committed by illegal aliens in the United States for which they have never been caught or charged. Finally, any crime committed by an illegal alien in the interior was a preventable one — waiting to remove an illegal alien until after the commission of a crime against an American citizen defies common sense and represents an abdication of government’s responsibility to protect its citizens.”
Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, said the answers in the letter were not good enough.
“Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s mass deportation agenda has ripped families apart and created fear and chaos in our communities. These numbers are evidence of that,” he said. “But ICE is still withholding information. This lack of accountability and clarity from ICE is unacceptable. We need answers, and we will continue to demand them.”
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