Operation Return to Sender

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Operation Return to Sender is the name for a massive sweep of illegal immigrants by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency that began on May 26, 2006.

The campaign has focused on individuals deemed to be the most dangerous, including convicted felons and gang members, particularly those of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, as well as repeat offenders, some of whom had already been deported. As of late April 2007, over 23,000 illegal immigrants had been arrested.

On Sept. 19, 2006 ICE also conducted a sting operation and arrested 11 immigrants in Danbury, CT who came to be known as "The Danbury 11." A federal agent disguised himself as a contractor and enlisted the men to work on a construction site before handing them over to ICE. 9 of the 11 were later released on bail. In January 2007, due to a major push within Operation Return to Sender, raids in the Los Angeles Metro area netted 338 illegal immigrants who were arrested at their homes and apartments and 423 who were identified in area jails since Jan. 17. Those already jailed will be transferred to federal custody when they finish serving their state sentences, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The sweep netted illegal immigrants from 14 countries in all, including Mexico, Honduras, Ukraine, India, Japan, Poland and Trinidad.

An ICE press release from June 14 2006 claims that Operation Return to Sender ended June 13 2006 and brought in "More Than 2,100 Criminal Aliens, Gang Members, Fugitives and Other Immigration Violators". However, this is contradicted by numerous citations that the operation is ongoing, including this one from the Contra Costa times dated March 9, 2007 which quotes ICE as having arrested 13,000 more people from mid-june 2006 through January 2007, and also outlines the ACLU of Northern California's involvement in filing FOIA requests to find out more information about how ICE is conducting this operation. Raids in Marin County, California under "Return To Sender" occurred in early March 2007, showing that the operation continues.