Advertisement

Gang sweep nets 1,759 arrests

Share
Times Staff Writer

More than 1,700 alleged gang members and their associates, many of them illegal immigrants, were arrested during a four-month nationwide crackdown that spanned 53 cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego, federal officials said.

“We’ve inflicted significant damage on various violent street gangs in every part of the country, from Wichita to Sheboygan,” said Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “And that has made our communities immeasurably safer.”

California led the arrest totals with 430 during the course of the law enforcement initiative, which ran from June 1 to Sept. 30 and included 28 states. Of those arrests, 168 were made in Los Angeles, 96 in San Bernardino and 81 in San Diego. Texas was second, with 271 arrests.

Advertisement

Operation Community Shield mostly targeted Latin American street gangs, including Surenos, MS-13, the 18th Street Gang and the Latin Kings, Myers said during a news conference Wednesday.

The alleged gang members were mostly foreign-born, with many involved in serious crimes, including robbery, extortion, rape and murder, according to immigration officials.

“These gangs, and others like them, prey on our neighborhoods, prey on our communities, [and] take advantage of the individuals who live there,” Myers said.

Alleged members and associates of the Surenos street gang, a loose organization that originated in the California prison system, made up the largest number of arrestees in any one group. Traditionally, most of those arrested in gang sweeps have been alleged members and associates of the Mara Salvatrucha organization, a gang of mostly Latin American immigrants known as MS-13.

Of the 1,759 people arrested, 1,029 were charged with immigration violations and face deportation proceedings.

The remaining 730 face criminal charges, including assault, drug possession and reentering the country after deportation.

Advertisement

Among those arrested for alleged criminal violations were 392 U.S. citizens. “The problem is not limited to one nationality,” Myers said.

The arrests this year represent a 34% increase from the 2007 operation, which resulted in 1,313 arrests.

Myers called the recent crackdown a success and attributed the increase in arrests to the continued cooperation between federal and local officials, some of whom find immigration enforcement to be a delicate issue in their communities.

“Any victim, witness or other person not engaged in criminal activity has no reason to fear our Police Department,” said Charles Everett, chief of the Union City, N.J., Police Department, one of the local agencies involved in the crackdown. “However, habitual criminals, street gang members, members of drug-dealing cliques, sexual predators and anyone else who poses a significant threat to the people that we are charged to protect is not welcome in our city.”

Since 2005, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 11,100 alleged members and associates from hundreds of gangs across the country. Of those arrested, 3,997 have been charged with crimes and 7,109 have been charged with immigration violations and processed for deportation.

--

cynthia.dizikes@latimes.com

Advertisement
Advertisement