The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said on Wednesday that the unidentified Trinidadian’s arrest was part of its “ongoing commitment to prioritizing the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators.” 

“The results of this targeted enforcement operation underscore ICE’s ongoing commitment to protect public safety with a focus on the arrest and removal of convicted criminal aliens and those that game our nation’s immigration system,” said Calvin McCormick, field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore office. 

“ERO officers will work tirelessly to pursue leads in locating, apprehending and removing these at-large criminal aliens and repeat immigration violators from our Maryland communities that have blatantly disregarded the law,” he added. 

McCormick said the 34 criminal aliens arrested during the operation have criminal convictions for crimes including driving under the influence of alcohol, theft, criminal possession of a controlled substance, robbery and escape. 

He said two individuals were identified as illegally re-entering the country after having been removed.

McCormick said they will be presented to the United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution for illegal re-entry into the US after deportation, a federal felony offense.

Those arrested came from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Trinidad and the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday,  the ICE held another Trinidadian – Gavin Cadogan, 45,  living here under an assumed identity. The ICE said Cadogan was sentenced to 151 months in a US federal prison for receiving child pornography, 120 months on two counts of possessing child pornography, and 36 months for his false claim to US citizenship. 

US District Judge Frank Montalvo ordered all the prison terms to run concurrently. 

Cadogan pleaded guilty to the charges October 19 and admitted that he received and possessed child pornography, and that he falsely claimed to be a US citizen at the time of his arrest, the agency said. 

It said Cadogan is actually a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, “who assumed the identity of a Pennsylvania resident. 

ICE said Cadogan used this stolen identity to work in El Paso, Texas. In addition, it said he used the identity to secure a valid driver’s license, an apartment and to meet his basic necessities.

(Re-Printed from Caribbean360)