Documents show federal agents who conducted a recent immigration enforcement operation in the Austin area arrested more people without criminal convictions than convicted criminals.
ICE documents obtained by the KVUE Defenders and Austin American-Statesman show 23 of the 51 people detained in the Austin area had criminal convictions, which the other 28 were classified as “non-criminals,” meaning they did not have previous convictions.
The 55 percent of non-criminals arrested in the Austin region is well above the percentage of non-criminals arrested in other cities. In Atlanta and Chicago, around 30 percent of those arrested were “non-criminals,” with the percentage around 5 percent in both Los Angeles and New York.
The Austin region also includes San Antonio, Del Rio, Laredo and Waco. Federal officials have said a large number of the 51 people arrested are thought to be from Austin.
According to the documents, nine of the 23 had previous drunk driving convictions, two for assault and two for sexual offenses involving children. The data also included several individuals with convictions for marijuana possession, obstruction of police and drug trafficking.
This is a developing story. Please check back with KVUE.com for updates.
ICE ARRESTS by kvuenews on Scribd