This story was produced by My UP news correspondent Andrew Lorinser, find the original story here.
U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Sault Ste. Marie Station apprehended an undocumented individual from Uzbekistan on Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security classifies Uzbekistan as a “Special Interest Country,” which indicates a suspected potential national security threat to the United States.
Officials did not provide details on the specific charges pending against the detainee. The U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) reported another arrest, that of an alleged member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, who was attempting to retrieve a vehicle that had previously been seized.
This individual has since been handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO) for deportation.
In the current fiscal year 2025, USBP has detained 174 undocumented individuals with gang affiliations.
“Our agents remain relentless in keeping dangerous criminals out of our communities,” the agency stated.
While identifying features of the suspected gang member are difficult to obtain due to policies that protect the identities of deportees, Border Patrol released images of apparent gang tattoos to the public.
The focus on border security and immigration controls is often concentrated on the southern border, but significant attention is also warranted on the northern border.
Michigan, as a border state, has active law enforcement and ICE operations, particularly at the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie and at Detroit’s Canadian crossing.
Specific statistics for each point of entry are not readily available, but ICE reported an average of 710 immigration arrests daily during the last week of January, significantly higher than the daily average of 311 throughout the previous 12 months under President Biden.
If this rate continues, it will surpass ICE’s highest previous daily average of 636 arrests, recorded during the Obama administration in 2013.
From 2017 to 2020, under former President Trump, ICE averaged 376 arrests per day, which was approximately half of the current rate.
The agency’s goal now is to detain and deport between 1,200 and 1,500 undocumented immigrants daily, aiming to remove nearly half a million people each year. With an estimated 14 million undocumented individuals living in the United States, reaching these targets may take considerable time.
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