‘Operation Dirtbag’: US arrests 150 ‘illegal alien sex predators’
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it has arrested around 150 immigrants convicted with sex crimes as part of a large-scale sweep in Florida.
The series of raids, codenamed Operation Dirtbag, led to the arrest of more than 230 “criminal illegal aliens,” the DHS said in a statement on Thursday. The “sex predators” slated for deportation include citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, and Ukraine, officials said.
“Some of the charges include sexual assault, battery, attempted homicide,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said. “Our kids will be safer. This partnership with Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida is a model we want to replicate across the country,” she added.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on X that the sweep lasted 10 days. “These were people that under the Biden administration, they were allowed to just roam with no threat of serious deportation. The times have changed,” he said.
After returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump initiated a crackdown on illegal immigration, vowing to carry out the largest deportation in US history. The president and Republicans have accused his predecessor Joe Biden of pursuing open border policies that allowed violent criminals to enter the country and hide from law enforcement.
Trump has tasked heavily armed federal agents with conducting immigration raids, some of which were widely publicized on social media, sparking protests and riots outside detention centers. Democrats have accused Trump of human rights violations and targeting immigrants without a violent history.
An Arizona man who fled the United States years ago while on probation for sex crime convictions was arrested earlier this month in France, where he was charged with sexually assaulting a child, authorities said.
Michael Robert Wiseman, 51, was living in Kilstett in northeastern France when he arrested November 1. Investigators discovered Wiseman had travelled to Vietnam and Poland before settling in France.
Scottsdale police Sgt. Dustin Patrick told Phoenix television station 12News that Wiseman was captured after he tried applying for a pilot’s license in Spain using his real name. Patrick said investigators discovered that Wiseman had adopted two children in Vietnam and had obtained a legitimate Polish passport under an alias.
“His potential employer Googled his name and found that he was on Scottsdale’s most wanted list and called Spain authorities,” Patrick said.
During the investigations, US police searches of Wiseman's email found evidence that he was sexually abusing his 10-year-old adopted child, which the FBI reported to French authorities.
"An investigation is underway in Strasbourg" city in eastern France, the prosecutor's office told AFP, without providing further details. The source close to the case said authorities were working to determine if he had also harmed his other child, who is eight years old.
The French charges come on top of US arrest warrants issued after Wiseman skipped the country twice to escape prosecution, Scottsdale police said on November 7. The Arizonan was facing charges stemming from child sexual abuse material found on his computer.
While his charges were still pending, Wiseman cut off his ankle monitoring device and left the country in late 2008. The fugitive was arrested in 2009 in Spain, brought back to Arizona and pleaded guilty in metro Phoenix to three counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and one escape charge.
In an interview with a probation employee, Wiseman said he left the country the first time after growing tired of the hardship from his wife leaving him after his 2008 arrest and his financial difficulties, according to court records.
Wiseman, who spent more than two years in prison after his return from Spain, was sentenced in 2012 to lifetime probation and a one-year deferred jail sentence. The additional incarceration was later deleted by a judge in at least one of his two Arizona cases.
Then authorities say he skipped out of the United States for the second time after his 2012 sentencing.
The lawyer who last represented Wisemen in his criminal case no longer works as a public defender, and efforts to locate him through a bar directory and internet search weren’t successful.
Scottsdale police say Wiseman will be extradited to the United States after his French case is completed. Arizona prosecutors say there is no timeline for when the extradition will occur.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)
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