National Fugitive Operations Program

Within Fugitive Operations, the National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP) provides policy direction, strategic planning and operational oversight for ERO’s efforts to locate and arrest at-large removable noncitizens within the United States.

NFOP conducts operations that focus enforcement efforts on those who represent a threat to national security or public safety.

NFOP’s operations include:

• Operation Cross Check: Coordinated, targeted enforcement efforts that take place at either the national or local level and focus on a specific group of noncitizens that pose the greatest threats to homeland security
• Operation Return to Sender: Interior enforcement initiative that applies an organized and methodical approach to the identification, location and arrest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fugitive noncitizens
• Operation Secure Streets: An enforcement operation that targets priority noncitizens who have been convicted of violations concerning the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Operation Sex Offender Arrest and Removal (SOAR): Prioritized ICE enforcement resources to identify the most egregious public safety threats, targeting criminal noncitizens arrested for, or convicted of, sex offenses

NFOP is also responsible for several other programs that allow ERO to fulfill its critical public safety and national security mission:

• Probation and Parole: Entails the identification and arrest of foreign-born nationals who have been convicted of crimes and released from incarceration or have been placed on probation and released into the community under supervision.
• Fugitive Operations Teams: Target, arrest and remove noncitizens who present a danger to national security, or are a risk to public safety, as well as those who enter the United States illegally or otherwise undermine the integrity of our immigration laws and our border control efforts.
• Mobile Criminal Alien Teams: Conduct at-large field enforcement activities designed to investigate, locate and arrest priority noncitizens for removal from the United States.
• Special Response Teams: Charged with conducting high-risk operations — including high-risk transports, high-risk removals, security, and protection — targeting noncitizens convicted of violent crimes many of which are associated with criminal organizations.
• ERO’s Top 10 Most Wanted Program: Focuses on ICE fugitives — noncitizens who failed to depart the U.S. pursuant to final orders of removal, deportation, or exclusion, or who failed to report to an ERO officer after receiving notice to do so — who pose extremely serious public safety or national security threats.

Transnational Law Enforcement Operations

Within Enforcement Division, Transnational Law Enforcement Operations (TLEO) coordinates with U.S. and international law enforcement agencies to combat cross-border threats to public safety and national security. TLEO provides information to U.S. and international law enforcement agencies via investigative referrals on noncitizen criminals and security threats.