A source within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says federal law enforcement agents assigned to assist their agency in the round-up of migrants in an illegal status in Houston have unofficially dubbed the mass deportation plan “Operation 47” in honor of President Donald Trump. The mass deportation operation carried out in parts of Houston has netted several high-profile criminal alien arrests but is also impacting local businesses.
The source says department stores, restaurants, and bars in some parts of Houston are nearly empty because migrants who frequent them have chosen to stay away out of fear of being apprehended. The source, who is not authorized to speak to the media, says the agents in the Houston area assigned to the ATF, DEA, and the U.S. Marshals Service, who were recently granted the authority to enforce immigration law, have humorously dubbed the mission “Operation 47.”
A recent news report by KPRC2 in Houston describes an empty Farmers market, usually bustling with consumers, as completely empty on Tuesday. In the report, the customers who failed to show out of fear of the ICE operations being conducted were referred to as “diverse consumers.” One vendor told KPRC2 the migrants who are in an illegal status are asking others who are legally in the United States to buy milk for them since they are afraid to come outside.
The enhanced enforcement activities have resulted in several arrests of migrants in illegal status who have committed serious crimes of violence, including child sex offenses, according to the source. On Friday, ICE officials announced the apprehensions of two previously removed criminal aliens who had been convicted of child sex offenses and other violent criminal offenses.
The first suspect arrested by Houston authorities was identified as David Lopez Javier, a 45-year-old twice deported migrant from Honduras. According to ICE, Lopez had illegally entered the United States at least three times and was formally removed from the country in November of 2013 and again in April of 2016.
Lopez, arrested in Conroe, Texas, has been convicted of committing numerous criminal offenses while in the country illegally. These charges include lewd and lascivious battery on a child, cocaine trafficking, cocaine possession, illegal re-entry into the United States after removal, and two convictions for larceny.
The second migrant with significant criminal convictions arrested by law enforcement authorities was identified as Efrain Gomez Cac, a 30-year-old previously removed migrant from Guatemala, who was arrested in Cleveland, Texas.
Gomez was previously removed from the U.S. by ICE on Sept. 7, 2018, and had been previously convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing bodily harm and driving while intoxicated.
“Criminal aliens who repeatedly violate our nation’s immigration laws only to commit sex offenses against innocent minors, traffic deadly narcotics in our local communities, or commit violent offenses against law-abiding residents are quickly finding out that the law enforcement community is united and more determined than ever in our resolve to bolster public safety, national security, and border security here in Southeast Texas,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford in comments about the arrest of Lopez and Gomez.
ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz indicated through additional comments that the operations are likely to continue in full force, saying “HSI Houston is proud to work alongside ERO Houston and our other partner agencies in the area to aggressively pursue criminal aliens and other transnational criminal and immigration-related threats here in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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