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Crackdown On Illegal Immigration Nets More Than A Dozen Arrests In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Immigration officers have been busy over the past couple weeks in the Philadelphia area, arresting more than a dozen people who were in the city illegally, many with criminal convictions.

Several picked up by ICE are no strangers to the system, including a Mexican national ordered removed four previous times -- twice for illegal entry, once for resisting arrest and for disorderly conduct.

"We also had a case of one person from El Salvador who was convicted of two counts of indecent assault where the victim was 15 years old," says Tom Decker with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Philadelphia. "That person was, because of that conviction, a registered sex offender -- but they were a legal permanent resident. Based on that conviction, they lost residency, and they had a final order of removal."

Decker says the 17 people arrested here now are slated to be booted out of the country.

"We're committed to focusing smart, effective immigration enforcement," he says, "making the city safe, and removing threats from the street."

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