Federal agents arrested 14 illegal aliens in a single Michigan fishing sweep last month — proof that when agencies actually coordinate, enforcement works.
The joint ICE and U.S. Forest Service operation, dubbed "Operation Fresh Catch," took place October 10 in the Cadillac and Manistee areas of northern Michigan. Forest Service officers reported an increased number of fishing violations, and ICE moved in. Among those caught: three aliens who had already been deported and had final orders of removal, one with a DUI conviction, and another who had defied a voluntary departure order. All 14 are in the country illegally, according to ICE. Citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico were among those arrested.
ERO Detroit Field Office Director Matthew Putra said the coordinated efforts "promote public safety and help ensure that those who violate immigration laws are held accountable." The detainees were transported to the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan — a 1,800-bed facility that opened in June of last year in what was formerly a private prison.
Breitbart and WJLA both covered the sweep straight. What neither outlet pressed on is the obvious question: if 14 illegals can be rounded up on fishing violations in a single day in rural Michigan, how many more are walking around untouched because federal agencies have been shackled from cooperating? ICE's own press release credited the Trump administration's enforcement priorities — a pointed reminder that the current regime spent years dismantling exactly this kind of interagency cooperation.
The northern border angle barely gets mentioned, but it matters. The Baltimore News reported on a separate ICE arrest that underscores the problem: Iranian citizen Farzad "Tony" Toutouni, the so-called "King of Instagram," first entered the U.S. illegally in 1993, was ordered removed, wasn't removed, was ordered removed again in 1999, was deported to Mexico — and then re-entered illegally near Saint Clair, Michigan, in 2011, crossing the river from Canada using an electric raft. He's been here ever since, accumulating criminal convictions and a million social media followers, until ICE Los Angeles finally arrested him last month. That's three decades of failure.
The Michigan fishing sweep and the Toutouni case tell the same story from different ends. When federal agencies coordinate and are permitted to do their jobs, illegals get caught — even on routine fishing violations. When they aren't, an Iranian criminal with multiple deportation orders can cross the northern border on a raft and build a lifestyle brand in California for 13 years. The problem has never been finding them. It's been arresting them.
The open question: how many more Operation Fresh Catches would it take to actually clear the board — and will anyone in Washington let it happen?
