Operation Midway Blitz: 223 arrested in Indiana sweep including 146 truck drivers

Federal and state authorities, led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Indiana State Police (ISP), announced that 223 individuals suspected of living in the U.S. without legal authorization were arrested during a highway-sweep operation in northwest Indiana, near the Illinois border.  Among those arrested were 146 drivers of commercial vehicles, including 46 semi-truck drivers and 82 drivers of box trucks, buses or other commercial vehicles.  More than 40 of the individuals had been issued commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) by over a dozen states, Illinois, California and New York among the top-issuers.

The operation, branded as Operation Midway Blitz, is part of an expanded interior-immigration enforcement effort under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and involves a 287(g) partnership that delegates certain immigration-functions to state troopers.  Kristi Noem, the DHS Secretary, described the sweep as a public-safety initiative, saying that trucks driven by unlicensed or unauthorized drivers pose a threat to roadways.  State officials in Indiana pointed to the heavy volume of interstate freight traffic through their state and indicated they plan to increase commercial-vehicle enforcement in coordination with federal partners.