Washington Times: 171 foreign-born criminal sex offenders targeted, deported

Criminal aliens targeted, deported
Washington Times
February 21, 2008
By Seth McLaughlin

RICHMOND — Virginia's attorney general and federal immigration officials yesterday said they are in the process of deporting 171 foreign-born criminal sex offenders, including about 20 living in Northern Virginia. "

The bottom line is Virginia is not going to be a place where criminal illegal aliens will have any safety," said Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican. "We are going to make sure that those people who come here illegally and violate the criminal laws of Virginia, are detained, prosecuted and deported."

Mr. McDonnell, who plans to run for governor next year, said the offenders facing deportation were a mix of illegal aliens and immigrants with temporary legal status. "

Among the sex offenders we've arrested on the street are those convicted of rape, carnal knowledge of a minor, sexual battery, sexual abuse and taking liberties with children," said Bill Reid, special agent in charge for the D.C. office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The state and federal partnership, dubbed "Operation Cold Play," falls under the umbrella of ICE's "Operation Predator," targeting sex offenders across the country. "
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In July, Mr. McDonnell requested state police thumb through the roughly 14,500 names in Virginia's registry to find all those who were foreign-born.

State police shared the resulting list of 527 names with ICE to determine which persons were illegally present or "aliens who had committed crimes," Mr. McDonnell said.

From that list, federal officials discovered 135 "convicted criminal alien sex offenders" were being held in state prisons or local jails in Virginia, 84 had already left or been deported and 36 were walking the streets after having been released by the Department of Corrections.

Alexandria had the highest number with eight, Manassas had four, and Woodbridge had three.
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