The Drug Enforcement Administration is continuing its work with all partners from federal law enforcement agencies to go after the "most violent, criminal, illegal drug traffickers" in New York City as criminal immigrants in the United States illegally are being sought out for deportation, DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino told Newsmax Sunday.
"What the DEA has done is prioritized those investigations that involve illegal criminals and we've had tremendous success in recent weeks going after and arresting those people," Tarentino said on Newsmax's "Sunday Report."
He said that gang members with groups like the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are topping the list, and there has been "great success in recent weeks" in arresting them.
There has also been talk of opening an ICE office at Rikers Island, and Tarentino said that the immigration crackdown represents a "whole of government commitment to do more."
"When you take the whole of government and apply all the resources, capabilities, and personnel to attack this problem, we have a significant amount of impact and success," he said.
"That's exactly what you're seeing playing out across all state, local, and federal agencies."
New York City's sanctuary policies have been seen as a hindrance, but Tarentino said that federal officers have had a "tremendous amount of success" in arresting drug traffickers in recent days.
"We've recently arrested members of MS-13 who were responsible for mass-producing fentanyl pills," he said, adding that 150,000 pills, defaced firearms, and $75,000 in illicit proceeds have been seized in recent days. This is the effort that we do each and every day with our partners from NYPD, state police, and DEA."
In the last two weeks, there have also been about 20 arrests specifically through DEA investigations of people identified as illegal immigrants who are criminals, said Tarentino.
"There will be a process in which they are housed for a temporary period until there is some deportation or removal proceeding, and this will be another opportunity to lessen that extremely difficult task" for law and immigration enforcement officials, he added.
Meanwhile, there has been a "noticeable change" in resources and information sharing from Canada, and partners from the Border Patrol and others are in a better position to deal with the threat from the United States' northern border, said Tarentino.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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