Houston Calls for Deporting Illegals in 2 Deadly Gangs : Politics: Such a sweep of immigrants would be an efficient way to reduce violent crimes, mayoral candidate says.

Mayoral candidate Tom Houston turned up the heat on his campaign to crack down on illegal immigrants Thursday, contending that two of the city’s most murderous gangs are made up of illegal immigrants who should be immediately deported.

“There are two major gangs in the city of Los Angeles which are exclusively composed of illegal aliens,” said Houston, a former deputy mayor. “It appears that within the past year they have killed over 100 people here. We can round these up and instantly deport them. We don’t have to put them on trial. We don’t have to get witnesses that are intimidated by gangs.”

Houston, who did not identify the two gangs, argued that deportation is a way to avoid the costly, time-consuming and sometimes unpredictable nature of the criminal justice system.

He said that 80% of the gang members he was referring to are wanted for crimes in their countries of origin. “So when we deport them, they will be serving time in prisons in Central America rather than wasting taxpayers’ (money) here in Los Angeles,” he said.

Speaking on the KCRW radio public affairs talk show “Which Way L.A.?” Houston said his deportation proposal was an obvious and overdue way to fight the gang problem. Houston was one of three mayoral candidates interviewed on the program. All were given a chance to say what they would do about gangs. But, as he has in past candidate forums, Houston demonstrated a knack for dominating the discussion by making the most specific and provocative recommendations.

Houston insisted that his gang proposal is so simple that he could not believe it is not being tried.

“This is a no-brainer,” he said. “Why we are not doing it, I have no idea. These are the gangs that are behind the carjackings. These are the gangs that are harassing the street merchants. I cannot for the life of me believe we are not going to take a stand, at least not against these gangs. This is an easy, quick procedure.”

A U.S. Immigration and Naturalization official on Thursday supported Houston’s contention that the 23,000 members of two gangs are virtually all illegal immigrants and said the deportation process can occur without going through a criminal trial.

According to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s report on county gangs released in May, about 100,000 gang members are listed in the main law enforcement computer system. Of those, about 58,000 were Latino, 37,000 were black and 4,000 were Asian.

John Brechtel, INS assistant district director for investigations, said he did not know how many murders the gangs had committed. But he did say they were responsible for a variety of crimes, including carjackings and shakedowns of merchants.

Brechtel said an INS violent gang task force has been rounding up and deporting illegal immigrant gang members since June. Brechtel said INS officers have apprehended 104 immigrants and deported 84. The other 20 are in custody, he said.

“We’ve got a problem here,” he said.

The Los Angeles Police Department is not authorized to apprehend immigrant gang members unless they are wanted for a crime, Lt. John Dunkin said, referring to city policy that prohibits the department from conducting investigations solely into someone’s immigration status.

Houston has been focusing on issues related to immigration since he entered the mayor’s race in October.

Arguing that the massive influx of immigrants is imperiling schools and hospitals, Houston says that a priority of the next mayor should be to seek an additional $300 million in tax revenue from the federal government. Houston contends that those revenues represent federal taxes paid by immigrants living in Los Angeles.

Houston’s comments, frequently emphasizing the impact of illegal immigrants on society, have made him something of a lightening rod for criticism and praise during the early going of the mayoral race. Other candidates have made a point of deploring his rhetoric.

But his ability to get attention has made some of his rivals nervous.

“The temptation is to write him off,” said one campaign consultant who asked not to be named. “But the truth is no one knows how far he’s going to be able to ride the horse he’s on.”

Preceding Houston on the KCRW talk show, candidate Stan Sanders, who is a lawyer and former city commissioner, was asked what he would do to get rid of gangs and guns in schools.

“What I want to see done is a concerted multi-jurisdictional enforcement of gun control in this city, state and country,” Sanders said. He maintained that gun control will not be effective in Los Angeles without similar efforts nationwide.

“So, what I would do is become part of a nationwide task force of governors to ensure that Congress took gun control seriously and got itself out of the wraps of the National Rifle Assn.,” Sanders said.

Candidate Linda Griego, a former deputy mayor who resigned this week to enter the race, attempted to distance herself from Houston’s comments. As one of two Latinos in the race, Griego was put on the spot by callers and responded by saying she did not like the idea of rounding up suspected illegal immigrant gang members.

“If you just start rounding up people . . . I would want to be very careful about that because you know we do have due process in this country. . . . To do a roundup on speculation is very dangerous in this country,” Griego said.

“I do believe immigration impacts the city. There are pluses and minuses. It tears the city apart to start scapegoating. I would like us to get our fair share of tax dollars that go to Washington that are paid by immigrants.”