Cracking Down on ILLEGALS in Sheboygan

Gang members were targeted in an immigration sweep in and around Sheboygan.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Thursday announced the arrest of eight suspected criminal illegal immigrants in and around Sheboygan earlier this week.

The arrests are a result of efforts to identify, arrest and turn over to federal immigration authorities for eventual deportation violent individuals who are members of organized gangs, according to Van Hollen’s office.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Sheboygan Police Department, Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department and Wisconsin Department of Justice special agents participated in the arrests as part of Operation Community Shield.

The program is a national law enforcement initiative that targets gangs through the use of ICE’s broad law enforcement powers, including the authority to remove and deport criminal immigrants — both those here illegally and those who have legal permanent resident status.

“The identification and arrest of illegal aliens who organize and are members of criminal street gangs must be a top priority of all law enforcement. . . . These street criminals are now out of Wisconsin neighborhoods and off the streets,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I am grateful to the Sheboygan Police Department, the Sheboygan County Sheriff, and the ICE officials with whom we have and will continue to work cooperatively.”

Those arrested are being held in private detention facility that contracts with the federal government. They will be brought before federal immigration officials for deportation, according to Van Hollen’s office.

...Sheboygan Lt. David Schafhauser said federal immigration officials contacted police several months ago asking for a list of violent illegal immigrants.

...Schafhauser said they range in age from 20 to 40 and are all believed to be associated with either the Latin Kings or Sureños street gangs.

I commend the effort to apprehend the ILLEGALS.

However, something strikes me as odd about this.

"[F]ederal immigration officials contacted police several months ago asking for a list of violent illegal immigrants."

If Sheboygan had a list of violent ILLEGAL immigrants several months ago, why weren't these lawbreakers taken off the streets immediately?
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Sheboygan Shenanigans comments on the arrests.