Federal authorities took hundreds of criminal illegal aliens from California jails despite the state’s sanctuary laws.
President Donald Trump’s deputies managed to deport hundreds of criminals from within California’s amnesty zone, or “sanctuary state,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Wednesday.
Essayli launched the operation last year. He said the strategy worked well enough to serve as a blueprint elsewhere in the country.
“This program is a model for the rest of the nation and a proven strategy to compel states to hand over criminal illegal immigrants to @ICEgov,” he said.
The operation resulted in the arrests of 362 illegal aliens who had previously been deported, according to the New York Post.
Federal authorities use illegal reentry charges to obtain warrants for illegal aliens already being held in local jails. The warrants require the facilities to transfer the inmates to federal custody before they can be released.
“We’re writing federal warrants in real time, so we can force jails to hand criminal aliens over to our custody before they’re released,” Essayli told the New York Post.
“It’s keeping bad guys from ever getting back out into the streets,” he added.
The operation covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.
During one recent operation at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, federal agents took custody of seven illegal aliens who had been arrested on charges including domestic battery, illegal gun possession, and reckless driving causing injury.
Each had previously been convicted of illegally entering the United States and had been deported, making them eligible to face federal charges for returning illegally.
Among those targeted through Operation Guardian Angel are illegal aliens with criminal records involving child molestation and rape, as well as a man accused of murder.
One defendant, 70-year-old Mexican national Jaime Rodríguez Ladesma, was convicted in 2023 of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14. He was deported later that year but returned illegally to the United States.
Federal authorities have also taken action against José Cristian Saravia-Sánchez, 31, a Mexican national accused of fatally shooting an Inglewood man who tried to stop the theft of a catalytic converter in 2025.
Saravia-Sánchez had previously been removed from the United States before returning illegally. He had also been arrested 11 times between June 2022 and August 2024, according to the report.
Federal officials said California’s sanctuary policies prevented local authorities from honoring an immigration detainer during his earlier encounters with law enforcement.
“The purpose of Operation Guardian Angel is to neutralize these sanctuary state policies,” Essayli said.
X users praised Operation Guardian Angel, thanking the Trump administration for targeting criminal illegal aliens in California.
