Operation Return to Sender is the name for a massive sweep of

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...

by the

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

(ICE) agency that began on May 26, 2006. According to ICE, the campaign has focused on individuals deemed to be the most dangerous, including convicted felons and gang members, particularly those of the notorious

Mara Salvatrucha Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Ange ...

(MS-13) gang, as well as repeat offenders, some of whom had already been

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

. As of late April 2007, over 23,000 illegal immigrants had been arrested.

Overview

On Sept. 19, 2006 ICE conducted a sting operation and arrested 11 immigrants in Danbury, Connecticut who came to be known as "The Danbury 11." A federal agent disguised himself as a contractor and enlisted the men to work on a construction site before handing them over to ICE. 9 of the 11 were later released on bail. In January 2007, due to a major push within Operation Return to Sender, raids in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Metro area netted 338 illegal immigrants who were arrested at their homes and apartments and 423 who were identified in area jails since Jan. 17. Those already jailed will be transferred to federal custody when they finish serving their state sentences, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for

. The sweep netted illegal immigrants from 14 countries in all, including

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Honduras,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Japan,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. An ICE press release from June 14, 2006 claims that Operation Return to Sender ended June 13, 2006 and brought in "More Than 2,100 Criminal Aliens, Gang Members, Fugitives and Other Immigration Violators". However, this is contradicted by numerous citations that the operation is ongoing, including one from the ''Contra Costa Times'' newspaper dated March 9, 2007, which quotes ICE as having arrested 13,000 more people from mid-June 2006 through January 2007, and also outlines the ACLU of Northern California's involvement in filing FOIA requests to find out more information about how ICE is conducting this operation. Raids in Marin County, California under "Return To Sender" occurred in early March 2007, showing that the operation continues. On June 6, 2007 ICE arrested 29 individuals in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

as part of Operation Return to Sender and arrested a few days later in nearby North Haven. Some of these individuals had no criminal or immigration history.

References

"San Francisco Bay Area Reacts Angrily to Series of Immigration Raids"
- New York Times, April 28, 2007.

-

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

, June 14, 2006.
"Boston Among Cities In Illegal Immigrant Blitz"
- Associated Press, June 14, 2006.
"ICE Press Release on Operation Return to Sender"
June 14, 2006.
"Immigration Raid has Chilling effect on Mendota community"
March 2007. {{Immigration to the United States Return United States immigration law History of immigration to the United States Presidency of George W. Bush 2006 in Connecticut

Overview

See also

References