(TNND) — Federal and local authorities have been teaming up to catch illegal immigrants accused of crimes on American soil. President Donald Trump’s "border czar" Tom Homan previously told The National News Desk’s Kristine Frazao that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is going after undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds first. But Homan said any immigrant who isn’t authorized to be in the country is fair game to be arrested and deported. The Department of Homeland Security said three-quarters of ICE arrests in Trump’s first 100 days were illegal immigrants with convictions or pending charges. And DHS said last week that it had secured nearly 600 signed agreements with state and local partnerships under the 287(g) program , which empowers local police to carry out limited immigration enforcement activities. That federal-local partnership program allows local officers to identify and process “removable aliens” with pending or active criminal charges, serve and execute administrative warrants on those people in their jails, and more. Violent offenders, gang members, sex offenders and other fugitives were rounded up late last month in what ICE described as a “first-of-its-kind” partnership between federal and state law enforcement organizations in Florida. Operation Tidal Wave resulted in 1,120 arrests across Florida, which ICE said is the national 287(g) leader. Meanwhile, authorities said they captured one of the top leaders of the MS-13 gang in Virginia thanks to a newly formed state-federal task force. Sheriff Kieran Donahue, the president of the National Sheriffs' Association, recently met with Trump and said the president’s support has given local law enforcement agencies “wind at our back.” “And I know that we can call upon him at any time, and his staff, and that we're going to move as one body to address public safety in this country,” Donahue said earlier this month. Donahue previously said state-federal task forces are vital to rooting out dangerous criminals. Donahue said he can speak from experience, having served in his jurisdiction as a detective on an FBI task force for six years. “The numbers of people we – bad, very, very, very bad people – we get off the streets with these task forces cannot be underscored enough,” he said. The collaboration and sharing of resources and intelligence bolsters both federal and local law enforcement efforts, he said. Sunday, ICE expressed its gratitude to the Saline County Sheriff's Office in Arkansas for joining the 287(g) Warrant Service Officer Program. And ICE thanked local partners in Massachusetts after ICE Boston arrested a man wanted for murder in his home country of Brazil. The Pew Research Center found nearly unanimous agreement among Americans who support some deportations that violent criminals living in the country illegally should be sent packing.
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