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Federal agents have carried out sweeping ICE Raids in the Houston area, delivering a major blow to transnational crime networks. The six-month enforcement effort by U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resulted in the arrest of 356 illegal alien gang members with nearly 1,700 criminal convictions and more than 1,400 illegal border crossings combined.

A Week-Long Operation Yields Hundreds of Arrests

Between February 23 and March 2, ICE, in collaboration with federal, state, and local law enforcement, arrested 646 undocumented immigrants in the Houston area, according to FOX 26 Houston. Of those, 543 were convicted criminals and seven were confirmed gang members. Agents also executed 71 criminal arrest warrants.

The arrests included:

• 140 charged or convicted of violent felonies such as homicide and aggravated assault. 
• 34 convicted of sex crimes involving minors. 
• 38 with firearms offenses. 
• 52 charged with drug trafficking or possession. 
• 51 linked to property crimes. 
• 93 arrested for driving while intoxicated. 

Dangerous Criminals Removed from Communities

"In recent years, some of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, transnational gang members, and criminal aliens have taken advantage of the crisis at our nation’s southern border to enter the U.S. illegally," said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford. "ICE and our law enforcement partners… have banded together to remove these dangerous criminal aliens from our local communities and put an end to the lawlessness that they spread."

ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz added, “These collective efforts have made our local communities significantly safer… and sent a resounding message to transnational criminal organizations everywhere.”

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Repeat Offenders and High-Profile Arrests

ICE confirmed that the arrested group included members of over 40 gangs such as MS-13, Paisas, and Latin Kings. Collectively, they had illegally entered the U.S. 1,434 times — one individual had crossed illegally 40 times.

Among those arrested:

• Ronald Alberto Rivas-Aguilar, an MS-13 member convicted of homicide. 
• Juan Pablo Hernandez Ramos, a child predator convicted of promoting child pornography and sexual assault. 
• Humberto Romero Avila, a Paisas gang member wanted for homicide in Mexico, deported after 10 prior illegal entries. 

Acting ICE Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez stressed the public safety mission, citing past atrocities by gang members in Houston, including the brutal rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl.

For more details, see MSN’s coverage.