WASHINGTON (WMAL) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Tuesday that their Washington Field Office officers have nabbed 132 individuals throughout Washington D.C. and Virginia in a two-week operation called Eagle Shield, according to an ICE news release.

Eagle Shield “targeted notable threats to public safety” and was conducted between July 9 and 20 of this year, the release stated.

Those arrested ranged from violent offenders to sex offenders and also included members of notorious gangs such as MS-13 and 18th Street gangs.

“We set out to locate and detain known, dangerous criminal aliens who are hiding and operating in the neighborhoods we call home,” said ERO Washington field office director Russell Hott. “Today’s announcement is the result of the absolutely essential work our ICE officers perform to identify the worst of the worst and ensure they have no refuge here.”

ICE, together with federal prosecutors, are pursuing criminal charges against 37 of the 132 arrested for federal offenses such as re-entry after removal and unlawful possession of a firearm. The individuals not criminally prosecuted will be processed for removal from the country.

Those who have outstanding orders of removal, or who returned to the United States illegally, are subject to immediate removal; The ERO Washington Field Office has already removed nine of the undocumented arrested.

131 men and one woman were the individuals arrested included nationals from the following 13 countries: Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, Philippines, South Africa and Sudan.

Examples of aliens arrested during Operation Eagle’s Shield include:

• An El Salvadoran national identified as a high-ranking MS-13 member.
• A Bolivian national who has four prior convictions for rape and intercourse with a victim under thirteen.
• A Peruvian national previously convicted for battery and failure to register as a sex offender.
• A Mongolian national previously convicted for driving under the influence and forgery.
• An El Salvadoran national who is currently facing criminal charges for felony strangulation.
• A Honduran national and illegal re-entrant with an outstanding warrant for two counts of felony rape, two counts of felony sodomy, and two counts of felony sexual abuse.
• A Philippine national previously convicted of felony possession of a firearm with a controlled substance.
• A Guatemalan national previously convicted for consensual sexual intercourse with a child.
• An El Salvadoran national who is the subject of a U.S. Marshals federal arrest warrant for felony assault with a deadly weapon.
• A Jamaican national previously convicted of forgery.

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