"Nearly 300 suspected illegal immigrants with criminal records have been arrested in California.
More than 400 agents and local law enforcement officers were involved in the three-day search.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency described the operation as the biggest of its kind targeting "criminal aliens".
More than 100 of those caught in the sweep have already been deported, with many others facing proceedings.
Officials said more than 80% of the 286 people arrested between Tuesday and Thursday had previous convictions for serious or violent crimes including rape and robbery.
'Worldwide'
There were also 30 convicted sex offenders in the group.
Most of the people - 207 - arrested were Mexican nationals, the AFP reported.
The others were from countries including Guatemala, India, Bolivia, the UK, Cambodia and Thailand.
At least 17 people are due to face charges for illegally re-entering the country after being deported. If they are convicted, they face 20 years in jail.
Six of those arrested did not have a criminal record.
Ice director John Morton said: "These are not people we want walking our streets.
"Legal immigration is an important part of our country's history and the American dream exists for many immigrants
"However, that dream involves playing by the rules and those who break our criminal laws will be removed from the country."
During the past year, 136,000 people have been expelled from the US after the government stepped up efforts to root out criminals evading deportation.
The Ice estimates that 560,000 "fugitive aliens" remain at large in the US. Not all of these people have criminal records. "
Although i would feel saddened if they caught any dreamy who was just trying to follow the law and make a better life for themselves and their family, i am happy that they are getting rid of all these rapist robbers and/or killers. Its just sad that most of them will end up going free once they get deported to their home country. That's why Latin America is being filled with dangerous criminals, because the ones from here are getting deported over there and since they do not have a criminal record over there they are free to roam wherever they may please.
