ICE National Gang Enforcement Report

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is pleased to announce a major milestone with the arrest of more than 1,500 gang members since Operation Community Shield was launched in February, 2005. We mark this milestone with the latest five arrests taking place in Denver, CO; Charleston, SC; Kansas City, MO; and Wichita, KS.

OVERVIEW ICE launched Operation Community Shield in February 2005 to confront the national problem of violent street gangs. The goals of the initiative are to disrupt, dismantle, and prosecute violent street gangs by employing the full range of authorities and investigative tools available to ICE.

Under this initiative, ICE is employing its broad immigration authorities (both criminal and administrative immigration authorities) against foreign-born gang members. ICE is also employing its broad customs authorities to combat drug trafficking and other crimes committed by these gangs.

In addition, ICE is using its considerable financial investigative expertise to target the financial infrastructure of these criminal organizations and their illegally derived assets.

PARTNER AND PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Strong partnerships and cooperation with existing local, state, and federal anti-gang efforts are essential to the success of Operation Community Shield.

On October 14, federal agents from ICE, in cooperation with the Huntersville Police Department, conducted a proactive gang enforcement action in Huntersville, NC. ICE received a request for assistance by local police after intelligence indicated that gang members operating in the Huntersville area had knowledge of several law enforcement officers’ residences. Six Mexican nationals and members of the SUR-13 gang were arrested during this enforcement action. One arrest resulted in a criminal charge by the Huntersville Police Department for Possession of Stolen Property/Shotgun.

STATISTICS Below are statistics on the arrests of gang leaders, gang members, and gang associates. These include arrests on criminal charges as well as arrests on administrative immigration charges.

1. MS-13 (746) 2. SUR-13 (278) 3. 18th Street (52) 4. Latin Kings (33) 5. Vatos Locos (32) 6. Tortilla Flats (32) 7. Mexican Posse (20) 8. Sombra Negra (15) 9. Muertos Trece (12) 10. Florencia

CASE EXAMPLES October 20: Atlanta – Latin King Member Sentenced to 149 Months in Prison For Re-Entry After Deportation Former member of the Latin Kings gang was sentenced to 149 months in prison and three years of supervised release after being convicted on Aug. 3rd for re-entering the United States after having been deported and for violating the terms of his supervised release. Lorenzo Sotelo-Camacho, a national of Mexico, received 125 months for the re-entry conviction and 24 months for the violation of his release. Officers of the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office arrested Sotelo-Camacho on December 2004 on battery and obstruction of justice charges. ICE special agents subsequently charged Sotelo-Camacho for re-entering the country again after having been deported. Sotelo-Camacho has an extensive criminal history including convictions for criminal trespass, battery, forgery, theft by receiving and burglary. He was deported from the United States in 2003 after completing his sentence for a 1999 re-entry after deportation conviction.

October 13: Houston – “Mexican Mafia” Prison Gang Member Arrested ICE special agents arrested a member of the violent “Mexican Mafia” prison gang after receiving information from the Montgomery Sheriff’s Office. Pedro Sanchez, 27, from Mexico, was previously deported in October 2002. He now faces criminal charges for re-entering the U.S., which is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Montgomery County officers first arrested Sanchez for public intoxication on Oct. 3. Officers then contacted the ICE Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC), which identified Sanchez as a previously deported felon. He was taken into custody to face his municipal charge, and then turned over to ICE authorities.

October 14: Atlanta – ICE Agents Arrest Four Gang Members With Criminal Histories ICE special agents in Atlanta, GA took custody of four (4) gang members from the Dekalb County Detention Center. The gang members, who entered the United States without inspection, included a Peruvian national and Canadian national from the MS-13 gang and two Mexican nationals from the Barrio Siete and Vatos Locos gangs. All four individuals have criminal histories and collectively they have been convicted of charges for Possession of a Sawed-Off Shotgun, Robbery, Theft, and Possession of a Controlled Substance. All of the individuals are in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

About Operation Community Shield

Operation Community Shield, launched in March 2005, is ICE's comprehensive law enforcement initiative targeting violent criminal street gangs nationwide.

Initially, the focus of the effort was the Mara Salvatrucha organization, commonly referred to as "MS-13," one of the most violent and rapidly growing of these street gangs. During Phase I, ICE arrested 359 MS-13 members including 10 clique leaders.

In May 2005, ICE expanded Operation Community Shield to include all criminal street gangs that pose a risk to public safety and a concern to national security, putting into motion an aggressive law enforcement action with the goal to investigate, arrest, and prosecute any violent street gang members, leaders, and/or associates of MS-13 as well as other gangs such as Sureños, 18th Street gang, Latin Kings, Vatos Locos, Mexican Mafia, La Raza gang, Border Brothers, Brown Pride, Norteno, Florencia 13, Tiny Rascal, Asian Boyz, and Jamaican Posse that routinely seek to exploit or engage in violent criminal activities.

Under Operation Community Shield, ICE focuses its powerful enforcement tool toward a single goal: Dismantling gang organizations by targeting its members, seizing its financial assets and disrupting its criminal operations.

FR Thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1420911/posts
America's Most Dangerous Gang

FR Keywords: gangs, m13, ICE

http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/051026greenbay.htm

October 26, 2005

7 GANG MEMBERS ARRESTED IN GREEN BAY DURING ICE-LED MULTI-AGENCY CRACKDOWN

GREEN BAY, Wis.— Seven members and associates of the Sureños 13 and Brown Pride Loco 13 street gangs were arrested here yesterday on administrative immigration violations in a coordinated multi-agency enforcement operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Tuesday’s early-morning operation was organized by ICE as part of “Operation Community Shield,” an ongoing national ICE anti-gang initiative designed to disrupt, dismantle, and prosecute street gang members and their organizations. Other agencies participating in the Green Bay operation included: the Green Bay Police Department, the Brown County Metro Enforcement Group, the Green Bay offices of the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The majority of the men targeted in this operation had criminal histories, including prior convictions for weapons and narcotics. All those arrested are foreign nationals from Mexico and are being held in ICE custody pending deportation.

“We’re sending a message to the violent street gang members in America that stopping gang violence and crime is high on our list of ICE priorities,” said Brian Falvey, resident agent-in-charge for ICE investigations in Milwaukee. “Law enforcement partnerships are effective in keeping criminals off the streets. These partnerships help break the cycle of the gang-related violence threatening the safety of our communities. This week’s arrests are a testament to the great working relationship between ICE, and the state and local government in Wisconsin.”

ICE launched Operation Community Shield in February to confront the national problem of violent street gangs. The goals of the initiative are to disrupt, dismantle, and prosecute violent street gangs by employing the full range of authorities and investigative tools available to ICE.

Under this initiative, ICE is employing its broad immigration authorities (both criminal and administrative immigration authorities) against foreign-born gang members. ICE is also employing its broad customs authorities to combat drug trafficking and other crimes committed by these gangs.

The MS-13 street gang was the initial target of Operation Community Shield. MS-13 is the largest and most violent street gang in the country. In May, ICE expanded Operation Community Shield to include all criminal street gangs with foreign-born members. With the launch of this second phase, ICE's Operation Community shield aims to ensure that gang members have no safe haven in our nation's communities. Since the launch of Operation Community Shield, there have been more than 1,500 street gang members arrested nationwide.

ICE is starting to release their end of year totals by state in their press releases. The numbers are HIGH. Did you see that FR post this morning?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509967/posts
DOJ Memo Reveals No Bar to Enforcement of Immigration Law (Long Title)
FAIR Immigration Report ^ | October 2005 | Leah Durant, Legal Analyst

"In other words, the Department of Justice believes state and local police are entitled to act when they believe federal immigration laws are being violated."

Local levels are going to try to hamper the clean up.

This is why I think they will:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1472612/posts?page=38#38

Impact from illegal alien labor:

- Costing health care, retirement funding, education and law enforcement, accruing at $30 billion per year.

- USA is foregoing $35 billion a year in income tax collections because of the number of jobs that are now off the books.

- Census Bureau estimates that 8.7 million people are illegally residing in the USA

- Urban Institute estimates a total of 9.3 million are illegally residing in the USA

- Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a total of 9.2 million are illegally residing in the USA

- The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) stated that the Bureau of Labor could have missed as many as 10% of illegal aliens, since illegal aliens avoid census questionnaires. The CIS suggests the total illegal population is at 10 million or higher (March 2004).

- Employers have incentive to hire undocumented workers off the books.

- Overseas labor markets have forced US employers to find innovative ways to capitalize on sources of cheaper labor to stay competitive.

- Employers place pressure on the government to ignore the flood of cheap labor.

- Services, ie but not limited to: public school enrollment, language proficiency programs, and building permits, that cater to illegal aliens have increased in areas that are considered gateways for immigration.

- The top nine states that account for 50% of illegal aliens are: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.

- Sole authority to govern immigration flow is placed on the federal government.

- Responsibility for providing support to legal and illegal immigrants rests with the state and local governments.

- Immigrants send home on average $1,400 to $1,500 per year through money transfers (also called Remittances).

- As per the World Bank in 2002, people sent $133 billion worldwide. Developing countries accounted for $88 billion of that.

- Remittances from the United States to Mexico have tripled to $13 billion between 1995 and 2003.

- As per the Pew Hispanic Center, 39% of surveyed Latino immigrants listed themselves as having legal status to opening bank accounts. This enables cash transfers through private money centers such as Western Union and Money Gram.

- HOWEVER, banks including Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo Bank began accepting matriculas, which are photographed identity cards for Mexicans living in the US.

- Matriculas are obtainable by any legal or illegal Mexican. Matriculas are widely obtainable through Mexican consulates across the USA.

- To date, around 2.5 million matriculas have been issued, and the number is growing.

- In major illegal alien gateway cities, the influx of immigrants has led to a housing boom unexplained by official population growth.

- In New Jersey, the three gateway towns are New Brunswick, Elizabeth, and Newark.

- Housing permits in these three towns shot up over six-fold, while the rest of the three counties only saw a three-fold increase.

- 80% of these permits were designated for multiple tenent dwellings.

- Official statistics state that illegal aliens in New Jersey have jumped 110% – an estimate that is inconsistent with the housing statistics. Local realtors' stats for multiple tenent housing and school enrollments suggest the number is higher.

- The major illegal alien gateway cities have experienced school enrollments much higher than projections.

- The decrease in the number of births in the past decade had led education administrators to expect decreasing school enrollments as a post echo boom trend.

- A higher immigration rate, however, has offset the impact of declining births.

- Enrollment stats for major illegal alien gateway city school districts that included: Queens, New York; Elizabeth, Newark and New Brunswick, New Jersey; and Wake County in North Carolina revealed explosive growth in immigrant students, far beyond numbers consistent with *legal* migration limits.

- NYC public school system is the largest in the nation, enrollment of 1.1 million students.

- Immigrant student enrollment for 1998-2001 was 103,000, with Queens accounting for the largest share, 37,000.

- Between 1990 and 2001, more than half of New York City’s school districts increased their enrollments 10% or more, driven by a high number of immigrant students.

- New York City Public Schools, 1999 to 2001: 102,867 immigrant students: Dominican Republic, China, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Ecuador, Colombia and Haiti.

Being a gateway community to illegals has many financial perks for pocket lining.

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