U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that a five-day targeted fugitive enforcement operation last week in Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, Orlando, and Tampa areas resulted in the arrest of 110 fugitive aliens and immigration violators.

During the operation, which concluded Friday, ICE officers arrested 81 immigration fugitives who ignored lawful orders of removal and went into hiding and 29 other immigration violators. Of the 110 arrested, 24 had criminal histories that spanned from aggravated assault, battery, marijuana possession, cocaine possession, heroin possession, trespassing, disorderly conduct, resisting officer with violence, sexual battery, social security fraud, burglary, carrying concealed firearm, larceny, grand theft and lewd and lascivious assault on a child.

Federal Immigration agents have arrested 15 illegal immigrants working as contract janitors at the BP refinery in Whiting, Ind.

The 11 men and four women arrested Wednesday by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked for an Illinois janitorial company. Fourteen are from Mexico, and one is from Guatemala.

Tuesday marked the start of housing federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees in the new Hall County Jail.

"We got our first vanload today," Supervisor Scott Arnold said at a county board meeting Tuesday.

He chairs the county's Corrections Steering Committee.

Arnold wasn't certain how many detainees were in a "vanload" and Corrections Director Fred Ruiz had already left Tuesday's county board meeting prior to Arnold providing an update to other supervisors on the ICE contract.

Janet Napolitano may be as familiar a face in Florence, Italy, as she is in Florence, Ariz.

The selection of "Janet, the Italian sheriff" - as the daily La Stampa put it - to become the nation's next Homeland Security secretary sparked interest and excitement in the country from which Napolitano's grandfather emigrated from in the early 1900s.

Italians are fascinated not only by Napolitano's cultural heritage but also by what they view as her innovative strategies as a border-state governor, hence the term "sheriff," said Maurizio Molinari, the Torino-based newspaper's U.S. correspondent.

"The general perception . . . is that she is in the first row facing illegal immigration," a hot-button issue here and there, Molinari said.

"Her decision to work more to prevent the illegal immigration from inside Arizona (is) a strategy that is very similar (to) the one Italy is trying to apply."

Federal immigration officials in April arrested more than 280 workers at Pilgrim’s Pride plants in five states, charging them with identity theft to obtain employment. Pilgrim’s Pride was not charged in the case.

"The construction boom at Fort Lee is causing a significant increase in the number of illegal immigrants being arrested on the base compared with arrests at other military installations. And the number of arrests is likely to increase as the number of workers grows over the next year.

Sixty-two illegal immigrants have been arrested this year while trying to enter Fort Lee, and all have been prosecuted for violating U.S. immigration laws, base officials said. In 2006, there were 15 arrests...."

"Immigration authorities have detained at least 170 workers during a raid of a Houston used clothing company suspected of employing undocumented workers...."

"After the biggest immigration raid in U.S. history, hundreds of workers have been sentenced but not one company official as yet faces any charges - something critics say is typical of a federal government that is tough on employees but easy on owners. Worker advocates and lawmakers say the fact that nearly 400 workers were arrested in the May 12 raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville - or more than one-third of the total number of employees - proves that company officials must have known they were hiring illegal immigrants...."

"Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal of Council Bluffs said he plans to resume work in January on legislation aimed at preventing employers from hiring immigrant workers as independent contractors when they should be considered actual employees. He said he also supports sanctions on employers that knowingly hire undocumented workers. "We think the real cause of this problem isn't people who are trying to seek a better life for themselves and their family. The real cause is companies that deliberately use immigrant labor to drive down wages and cut corners and save money," Gronstal said...."

"The number of illegal immigrants arrested and deported from Oklahoma and North Texas is on pace to exceed last year's number by 40 percent, the Department of Homeland Security says...."

"Rosemary E. Jenks, director of government relations at Numbers USA, a major foe of illegal immigration, said the steps being taken by the administration were 'long overdue.'"

Rosemary Jenks is with a group called Numbers USA, which seeks to reduce immigration. She said it is wrong to complain about an agency that is simply trying to enforce the law. 'Yes, it is unfortunate for the children to be stuck in the middle,' she acknowledges. 'But it is based on the choices of the parents. So if these parents had thought about this issue before they crossed the border illegally, they wouldn't be in this position.'"

"'We are not calling for I.C.E. to become the Gestapo knocking on doors in the middle of the night,' said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, a group in Washington that seeks to curb immigration. 'But we have to increase the likelihood that if you are here illegally you will be caught...'"

"Rosemary E. Jenks, director of government relations at Numbers USA, a major foe of illegal immigration, said the steps being taken by the administration were 'long overdue.'"

Rosemary Jenks is with a group called Numbers USA, which seeks to reduce immigration. She said it is wrong to complain about an agency that is simply trying to enforce the law. 'Yes, it is unfortunate for the children to be stuck in the middle,' she acknowledges. 'But it is based on the choices of the parents. So if these parents had thought about this issue before they crossed the border illegally, they wouldn't be in this position.'"

"'We are not calling for I.C.E. to become the Gestapo knocking on doors in the middle of the night,' said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, a group in Washington that seeks to curb immigration. 'But we have to increase the likelihood that if you are here illegally you will be caught...'"