Report: ICE Launches Sweeping California Crackdown

By Charlie McCarthy

(Republished from NewsMax)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly has begun an operation to go after the “worst of the worst” as well as noncriminal illegal aliens in California.

The enforcement campaign, internally called “Operation Safe California,” began several days ago in the San Diego area and is expected to continue for at least 45 days, the Washington Examiner reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the operation.

ICE leadership has instructed agents to arrest illegal aliens they encounter regardless of whether they have criminal records, according to the report.

“Management want numbers,” one source told the Examiner.

Another source said agents were “told to go after anybody; they can pick up anybody,” indicating that aliens without criminal convictions could also face detention and deportation proceedings.

The operation is expected to move north from San Diego through Los Angeles and eventually San Francisco by November, just ahead of the midterm elections.

Agents from ICE offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco reportedly will assist the effort, although fewer federal personnel are expected than were deployed during an earlier immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

The operation also reportedly requires ICE personnel to work mandatory six-day weeks, with previously approved time off canceled.

California’s sanctuary policies restrict cooperation between state and local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities, creating potential obstacles for President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda.

One source identified San Francisco as a particularly formidable location because of anticipated opposition to federal immigration operations.

“The challenge may be San Francisco. There may be more pushback,” the source said.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm or deny the operation, citing concerns about protecting federal agents and law enforcement activities.

However, DHS emphasized that immigration enforcement continues daily, highlighting recent arrests of illegal aliens convicted of serious crimes in California.

In an Oct. 6 release, DHS announced the arrest of Francisco Luperico-Jimenez, a Mexican national convicted of lewd or lascivious acts involving a child younger than 14 in Willows.

An Oct. 5 release identified Edwin Aroldo Curruchich-Quisque, a Guatemalan national convicted of similar offenses in San Mateo, and Sergio Valencia-Uribe, a Mexican national convicted of possessing drugs for sale in Riverside.

DHS also reported the arrest of Jose Mendoza, a Mexican national convicted of sexual battery of a minor in Red Bluff, in its Oct. 2 release.

“We don’t make the laws at DHS. We simply enforce them,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.

The reported statewide operation underscores the Trump administration’s continued push to enforce federal immigration laws despite opposition from Democrat-led sanctuary jurisdictions.