The headlines about Operation Community Shield could not be more appealing to law-and-order or anti-immigrant enthusiasts: Hundreds from Violent Gangs May Be Thrown Out of U.S., Immigrant Gangs Targeted in Sweep – Federal Dragnet Snags Hundreds, Immigration Sweep Hits Gangs – 34 Nabbed in Colorado. Apparently, the primary targets of the operation were Latin street gangs, many rooted in Central America. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff reported that over a six-month period, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had made 1,057 arrests as part of its antigang initiative; 930 to 950 were “illegal immigrants.” That meant that more than a hundred were either lawful permanent residents or U.S. citizens.

Immigrants who commit crimes are deported from the United States every day. They come from all over the world, including Mexico, Canada, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The U.S. Supreme Court even endorsed the removal of a Somalian refugee convicted of assault back to Somalia where no formal government exists. In 2002, the United States began deporting Cambodian refugees convicted of crimes back to Communist-dominated Cambodia. So although ICE may indeed be rounding up and removing hundreds of so-called illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, the agency also is engaged in deporting convicted lawful permanent resident aliens (those with “green cards”) or refugees legally admitted under U.S. refugee provisions. And these deportees have served their sentences in the criminal justice system before being deported.