More than 140 people arrested in Indiana in ICE operation targeting truck drivers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- President Donald Trump's administration's latest effort targeting people without legal permission to live in the U.S. who have criminal records resulted in the arrests of more than 140 people in Indiana.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined Gov. Mike Braun on Thursday to announce the results of the latest "Operation Midway Blitz," a Chicago-based operation in which federal agents targeted semitruck drivers on highways in northwest Indiana.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement partnered with Indiana State Police for the operation, conducting traffic stops near the Illinois state line.

Since September, federal officials said the operation has resulted in the arrest of more than 220 people living in the country illegally, including 146 who were driving semitrucks, box trucks, buses and moving vans.

"Putting them behind the wheel of these tractor-trailers weighing tens of thousands of pounds, loaded with explosive fuel down the highway endangers every single citizen that is on our roads," Noem said.

Immigration officials said the crackdown was spurred by recent deadly crashes in which the driver of big trucks, such as semis, was a person living in the U.S. without legal permission.

One of those crashes happened in Florida, where officials said a crash involving a semitruck driver in the country illegally left three people dead. Another happened in California, where another three people were killed in a crash involving a person, living in the country illegally, driving an 18-wheeler under the influence.

"We are going to work with DHS," Brauns aid. "We are going to work with ICE to keep our communities and our highways safe."

Investigators said some of the drivers arrested in Indiana did have commercial drivers licenses, issued by over a dozen states.

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