MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Federal immigration officials say they’ve taken thousands of convicted criminal aliens off the streets nationwide including dozens from South Florida.

The crackdown was part of a six-day national called “Operation Cross Check” conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Agents say they arrested more than 270 people in Florida including 139 from South Florida.

“This is not somebody that we want to leave on the streets of our communities and our neighborhoods. We target those individuals and arrest those individuals and now we’ll remove them,” said ICE Field Office Director Marc Moore.

Nationwide, agents say the operation led to the arrest of more than 3,100 convicted criminals, immigration fugitives and immigration violators.

ICE conducted the first successful Cross Check operation in December 2009, and has since conducted seven regional and two national Cross Check operations resulting in the arrest of more than 7,400 convicted criminal aliens. This operation is the third nationwide Cross Check operation in the agency’s history.