Federal agents in the southern California have arrested nearly 200 people as part of their five-day operation targeting the immigrants, who are convicted of the crimes or living in the country illegally, said the officials.
The operation was spearheaded by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), focused on the people with prior criminal offenses, which include drug trafficking, rape and also domestic violence, said the authorities.
“Operations like this are emblematic of the vital work ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers do every day, seeking to locate, arrest, and ultimately deport at-large convicted criminals and other immigration fugitives who pose a threat to public safety,” David Marin, the ERO director in Los Angeles, said in a statement.
“By taking these individuals off the streets and removing them from the country, we’re making our communities safer for everyone,” he added.
The raids took place among a surge in such operations since President Donald Trump has taken the office in January vowing to deport around three million undocumented immigrants with the criminal records.
A similar large-scale crackdown held in the month in February, in which at least half a dozen states have netted hundreds of undocumented immigrants including some immigrants without any criminal records, prompting an uproar among the rights groups.
Authorities said that the latest crackdown led to the arrest of a 29-year-old Salvadoran national man convicted of rape in California and also a previously deported 51-year-old Mexican man who had been convicted for cocaine trafficking.
More than two dozen of immigrants arrested also had been convicted of the domestic violence and also driving under the influence.
The suspects, 177 men and 11 women, included nationals from the 11 countries.
The majority 146 suspects are from Mexico while two are from Russia and also one from Cambodia.
Most of the arrests took place in the area of Los Angeles.
According to the federal authorities, more than 41,000 immigrants have been arrested by the ICE since Trump signed an executive order in the month of January strengthening the immigration enforcement policies.
The number represents the increase of 40 per cent over the same period in the year 2016.
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