Three illegal aliens with criminal convictions face deportation after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took them into custody here in North Carolina.

WITN News was with the ICE officials, some from as far away as Atlanta and Miami, when they made the busts last week in Durham, Raleigh and Garner.

Two of the three apprehended were fugitives. They were convicted, spent time in prison, were released and ordered to leave the country, but didn't. The third was a convicted sex predator in the U.S. illegally.

One of the individuals arrested, Juan Enamarodo of Durham, was a convicted cocaine and heroin trafficker who eluded authorities in New York and New Jersey.

All three were taken to the ICE Office in Cary where the deportation process began. ICE Officers will check to see if they have any outstanding warrants. Once that is done the removal process begins. That could take weeks or even years.

There are 75 ICE Fugitive Operations teams in the United States, two of them in North Carolina. The Fugitive Operations teams arrested just over 30,000 illegal alien fugitives in 2007.

While ICE busts may be more common in the larger areas of our state, law enforcement officials in eastern Carolina do have several programs to fight illegal immigration. Be sure to watch WITN News at Six on Wednesday for that report.