U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in New Orleans last week announced the removal of 17 criminal aliens and 107 non-criminal aliens during February.  The enforcement operation is part of a 10-year strategic national initiative.  Those deported were lawfully ordered to leave the United States by a federal immigration judge.  The countries of origin of those deported include Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Guatemala, India and Pakistan.

The offenses of the criminal aliens removed include criminal sexual abuse, theft, fraud, robbery, rape, murder, kidnapping, assault and battery and other crimes.

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Eleven undocumented aliens stopped in the Pittsburgh area will be facing deportation proceedings.  A van carrying the group of Mexican citizens was stopped for traffic violations and members of the group admitted to being in the country illegally.  If no criminal activity is indicated in background and criminal checks, they will be released, according to DHS officials.

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Immigration officials arrested nine janitorial workers who they said used fake IDs to get jobs with a national defense subcontractor in Tucson.  A routine check of I-9 employment eligibility verification forms at a military contractor directed attention to a maintenance company in Tucson where special agents found the workers used phony Social Security numbers and counterfeit immigration residence cards to get jobs.  None of the Mexican nationals arrested was found to have a criminal background or intent.

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A Canadian blogger who tried to enter the US for a meeting with a media company was turned back at an immigration checkpoint in New York, apparently because DHS officials did not believe that someone could be earning a living by blogging.  Jeremy Wright of Ensight.org was strip-searched and then banned from entering the US after he tried to visit New York last week.  He had written about the ordeal on his blog, but took down the entry when friends advised him not to publish his immigration troubles.