ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — It was an early morning in May when Channel 9 reporter Shannon Butler suited up and headed to Winter Garden as Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agents tried to find a man to send him back to Brazil to face his time in prison.
Deputy Field Office Director Garrett Ripa allowed us to ride along with him and his agents to show us what is going on inside the federal department.
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“There’s two constants. The first constant is the administration always is changing,” Ripa said. “The second constant: We are usually understaffed. So we might not be removing everyone, but we are prioritizing who we are going after and removing.”
That means violent offenders are at the top of the list. On the day we tagged along, we were working to find a Brazilian national who was convicted of bodily harm causing death.
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He was sentenced to four years behind bars but left and was was living under the radar from the U.S. government until now, likely working jobs for cash and/or having family support.
The feds would not tell us his name for his protection but told us he entered the U.S. on a non-immigrant status, somehow getting a visa. And he isn’t the only one.
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According to the annual ICE report, 46,396 immigrants were arrested that had a criminal history in 2022. In all, that group has 198,498 charges and convictions together. That included 21,531 charges or convictions for assault, 8,164 for sex offenses and sexual assault, 5,554 for weapons offenses, 1,501 for homicide-related offenses, and 1,114 for kidnapping, outlining the public safety risk. And that is just one agency. Add U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations and you add almost 50,000 more criminals in the U.S. caught by the feds.
But those are only the ones caught. There are likely thousands more, and tracking them is not always easy. The pressure, the politics, and the public perception make it harder.
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“And that’s why when you hear, the misinformation out there specifically about raids, you always hear that word used with what we do. And you can see, obviously, that’s the farthest thing from the truth of what we do. It’s targeted enforcement. A lot of work goes into it,” Ripa said.
On that day, the target of their investigation was gone, but days later agents were back out and captured the wanted man. He is now in custody going through the process of removal and will be back in Brazil to face his time in prison.
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