Wisconsin

 U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) teams arrested 28 immigrants who have been convicted of crimes, or were immigration fugitives and violators during a five-day operation in northeastern Wisconsin that ended on Tuesday, an ICE news release said Wednesday.

Of the 28 arrested, 26 had prior convictions for crimes, such as sexually assaulting a minor, theft, possessing cocaine, domestic abuse, carrying a concealed weapon, battery, criminal trespass and drunken driving, according to a news release.

Four of the 28 were immigration fugitives who had previously been ordered to leave the country, but failed to depart. They were also convicted criminals, in addition to having outstanding deportation order, ICE said.

Four of the 28 who also had criminal convictions had previously been deported and illegally re-entered the U.S., which is a felony, ICE said.

New state legislation has been introduced by a group of senate Democrats that will make companies that hire persons who are not legally in the U. S. ineligible for certain tax exemptions, governmental contracts, grants and loans.

The proposed legislation was immediately criticized by State Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee) who called the bill divisive and "yet another attempt to fix the broken immigration system at the state level."

 She said the proposed legislation (Senate Bill 137) addresses "a small portion of the complex issues surrounding immigration reform" that's a federal responsibility.

"While I share the frustration that we need tough, fair and comprehensive immigration reform, I am tired of members of both political parties demagoguing on the issue of immigration reform," she said in a press release issued Friday.