U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently conducted a sweep operation in Northern Virginia, rounding up 130 people of foreign nationality who are either illegal immigrants, or immigrants with criminal convictions. According to ICE, more than half of those who were arrested in the operation had several convictions of crimes, 10 had returned illegally to the United States after having been deported. Some of the crimes that the arrested immigrants have been convicted of include rape, assault, burglary, and drug possession. There were also several fugitives among the arrested. Among the detained were several – over 20 – that had no prior convictions, but were in the U.S. illegally; and there were at least four green card holders, immigrants with permanent resident status, who had criminal records that included sexual assault, grand larceny and child abuse. The round-up were executed in more than 10 different counties in Northern Virginia, including the county of Prince William, where illegal immigration has been a hot issue lately after a nun was killed by a drunk driver. The driver was in the U.S. illegally, and was waiting for removal proceedings after having been caught driving under the influence several times. The illegal immigrant had not been kept in detention because it wasn’t considered likely that he would escape. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that even though people driving under the influence is an important issue, ICE focuses its resources on detainment and removal of immigrants who committed more serious crimes, like murder and rape.