60 Of 84 People Arrested in OR, WA Immigration Raids Had Criminal Records

According to Federal officials, a two-day sweep of Washington and Oregon netted 84 arrests of illegal immigrants, of those nearly 75 percent had criminal backrounds. 11 of them in our Mid-Columbia region. The raids were conducted March 25-27 of this year.

Portland TV Station KGW reports the sweeps were targeted towards people who had known or suspected criminal backrounds, 19 of those arrested were for DUI. Another 25 had a mixture of charges including assault, sexual assault, larceny, domestic violence, drug and or weapon possession.

According to KGW, ICE said the raids targeted at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration fugitives.

The most violent offender was a Mexican national who is accused of child rape. ICE officials say the man was recently released by local authorities despite knowing he was the subject of an immigration detainer.  However, the Feds did not say where he was arrested in Oregon or Washington. Some sources say he was released due to sanctuary city policies.

19 were arrested in King County, 13 in Washington County, OR; 9 in Snohomish County, and 3 each in Benton, Adams and Lincoln Counties. 2 suspects were arrested in Grant County.

Some of the illegals facing serious charges could face up to 20 years in prison, the majority of the rest will be deported. Governor Kate Brown says Oregon remains a sanctuary state, but supposedly will comply with Federal law.