A targeted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation across 25 major cities nabbed 171 people living in the United States illegally who are suspected or were convicted of committing “horrible, almost unspeakable crimes,” officials said Thursday.

The sweep — which ran from Jan. 16-28 — was led by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division (ERO), which worked with other law enforcement agencies in each city.

One hundred three of the people arrested have been convicted or charged with assaulting children, including sexual assault, acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner said at a news conference. Ten others have pending charges or convictions for murder or homicide, he added.

Among the arrests: 

• In Denver, a 32-year-old Mexican citizen convicted of murder and illegal reentry into the U.S.
  
  
• In Los Angeles, a 27-year-old citizen of El Salvador convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old and possession of obscene matter of a minor in a sexual act.
  
  
• In Dallas, a 45-year-old citizen of Mexico convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and currently under criminal prosecution for illegal reentry into the country after removal.
  
  
• In El Paso, Texas, a 49-year-old citizen convicted of sexual assault.

Some of the arrested individuals are being deported, while some of the cases may be referred to federal prosecutors, ICE said.

The announcement of the arrests comes as the White House and a bipartisan group of senators are negotiating a deal that could bolster security at the U.S.-Mexico border and reform immigration laws.

Meanwhile, the GOP-led House is expected to vote next week on impeaching Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, whom Republicans accuse of ignoring immigration laws and breaching public trust. Mayorkas has called the accusations “false.” 

Lechleitner said that, because of a lack of resources, ICE must prioritize which migrants in the country illegally to pursue and limit its efforts to targeted operations throughout the year. 

“We can't consistently go out in a persistent manner to do this constantly because we don’t have enough people, resources,” said Lechleitner. “There's not enough in capability to do that. So we have to do these targeted operations. It requires a lot of prep work to get this together. So we do a lot of due diligence, a lot of preplanning, criminal intelligence work to put it together. And then we target this for a given period of time for maximum benefit.”

In the 2023 fiscal year, ERO arrested nearly 74,000 people in the country illegally with criminal histories. 

“One thing is always certain: We will always continue to enforce our nation’s existing immigration laws within the interior of the United States when undocumented, noncitizens who are wanted for horrible crimes, including crimes against children, are roaming the streets,” Lechleitner said. “ERO will find them and protect our communities, without a doubt.”