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LA: Hundreds Held in Anti-Gang Crackdown

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  • LA: Hundreds Held in Anti-Gang Crackdown

    Hundreds Held in Anti-Gang Crackdown

    Los Angeles Times
    Aug 2 2005

    A recent U.S. initiative netted 582 arrests last month, 26 in Los
    Angeles. Most suspects could be deported as illegal immigrants.

    By Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff Writer


    WASHINGTON - Law enforcement authorities arrested 582 alleged
    gang members and associates, most of whom could be deported for
    immigration violations, in a two-week period last month, Homeland
    Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Monday.

    Twenty-six of the arrests were made in Los Angeles.

    "Many gang members come to this country from overseas, or from other
    parts of the North and South American continent, which means that they
    are subject to our immigration laws," Chertoff told a news conference
    at the headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "When
    they violate those laws, we can take action against them."

    He said that the immigration agency, a part of the Department of
    Homeland Security, had made 1,057 arrests since February, when it
    announced the anti-gang initiative. Of those, Chertoff estimated,
    about 950 were illegal immigrants who, he said, "are subject to
    being removed."

    In addition, he said, criminal charges either had been or were expected
    to be filed against about 230 of those arrested.

    Initially, authorities focused on Mara Salvatrucha, a violent gang
    commonly known as MS-13, which is rooted in Central America but has
    branches in Los Angeles, the Washington, D.C., area and elsewhere.
    MS-13 members accounted for about half the arrests, Chertoff said.

    The immigration agency expanded the program in May to target other
    gangs, including Border Brothers and Latin Kings. "We have arrested
    members of over 80 different gangs," Chertoff said.

    The agency's initiative, which it calls Operation Community Shield,
    reflects the way concerns about border security and immigration are
    refocusing federal and state anti-gang operations, officials said.

    The involvement of gangs in immigrant smuggling, gangs' sophisticated
    ability to produce fake Social Security cards and driver's licenses,
    and their large number of foreign-born members are leading law
    enforcement authorities and Congress to place renewed emphasis
    on immigration law as a tool for combating gangs and on anti-gang
    measures as a way to fight immigration fraud.

    Separate from the Homeland Security effort, Rep. J. Randy Forbes
    (R-Va.) is working with law enforcement groups, including some in Los
    Angeles, and others to push a bill that would allow police to deport
    legal and illegal immigrants who are found to be members of a violent
    criminal gang, regardless of whether they have committed a crime.

    Marcy Foreman, director of the agency's Office of Investigations, said
    the anti-gang initiative involved extensive use of law enforcement
    databases. Immigration enforcement offices nationwide contacted state
    and local law enforcement agencies to identify the most pressing
    local gang threats.

    Suspects' names and potential target information were vetted by
    the agency's Law Enforcement Support Center in Vermont and then run
    through several data banks.

    The most recent arrests, from July 16 to July 28, took place not only
    in urban areas on both coasts, but included cities in the Midwest
    and the South, reflecting the nationwide presence of gangs and recent
    patterns of immigration.

    The cities in which suspects were arrested included Sioux City, Iowa;
    St. Paul, Minn.; Birmingham, Ala., and Charlotte, N.C. Boston led
    the country with 61 arrests.

    Authorities in California made 57 arrests, including 18 in San Diego
    and 26 in Los Angeles, immigration officials said in written statements
    released to coincide with the news conference. Among the suspects were:

    ~U A 31-year-old Mexican member of the 18th Street Gang with
    convictions for vehicle theft, damaging power lines, threatened crime
    with intent to terrorize, and possession of marijuana for sale.

    ~U A 27-year-old Guatemalan and MS-13 member who entered the U.S.
    illegally in 1998 was once convicted of a threatening crime with the
    intent to terrorize and was sentenced to 16 months in state prison.

    ~U An Armenian national, 24, who entered the U.S. legally in 1980
    and joined the Armenian Power gang. His criminal record includes
    convictions for drug possession and spousal battery.

    Oceanside Police Chief Jerry Lance said that since February, the
    federal immigration agency had helped his city, north of San Diego,
    round up 76 alleged gang members and 80 "associates," whom he described
    as illegal immigrants, some with criminal records, who were present
    when customs enforcement authorities raided gang homes or locations.

    He said that in two cities where he had served as chief - Oceanside
    and Long Beach - members of violent gangs had killed police officers.
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