A multi-agency, weeklong immigration crackdown in the Houston area this month resulted in the arrest of 646 illegal aliens, including 543 criminal aliens and seven documented gang members.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it, along with federal, state and local law enforcement, conducted the operation between Feb. 23 and March 2 in the Houston area to bolster public safety, national security and border security.

ICE and its partners executed 71 criminal arrest warrants and arrested 543 illegal undocumented aliens who had been charged with or convicted of criminal offenses while being illegally in the U.S.

Of the criminal aliens arrested, 140 were charged or convicted of an aggravated felony or violent offense, like homicide, aggravated assault or domestic violence.

ICE agents arrested seven illegal immigrants during a separate workforce operation raid. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

Also weighing in on the massive operation was ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz, who said the collective efforts have made the Houston community significantly safer and strengthened the country’s national security and border security.

“In just one week working alongside our counterparts from federal, state and local law enforcement, ICE HSI special agents successfully executed 71 criminal arrest warrants and made 554 administrative arrests that included illegally present human smugglers, gang members, human traffickers, child sex offenders, drug traffickers and weapons traffickers,” Plantz said in a statement. “As a result, we’ve sent a resounding message to transnational criminal organizations everywhere that the law enforcement community in the Texas Gulf Coast is more united than ever and will not rest until we’ve eradicated these criminal elements from the country.”

Along with ICE, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Diplomatic Security Service and the U.S. Marshals Service participated in the operation.