(10/12/06) MINEOLA ? Nearly a dozen convicted sex offenders face deportation following a police sting Thursday in Nassau County.

The sex offenders arrived at the probation department for what they believed was a routine probation meeting. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) set up the operation, and federal agents arrested the men as they arrived. Agents say they support the deception because the controlled environment decreases the risk to both officers and suspects. ICE is moving the men to a federal detention facility in New Jersey before a hearing to determine whether they are allowed to remain in the United States.

Federal law dictates immigrants, either legal or illegal, may be deported if convicted of felony sex crimes. In the three years ICE has strictly enforced the deportation penalty, agents say more than 600 people have been arrested on Long Island alone.