Posted on 08/01/2005 9:37:49 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal authorities arrested 582 alleged gang members over a two-week period, officials said Monday, targeting an estimated 80 violent groups they say have spawned street crimes across the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called the gangs "a threat to our homeland security and ... a very urgent law enforcement priority."
Investigators picked up most of the offenders between July 16 and July 28 on immigration violations for being in the United States illegally. Seventy-six face criminal charges, ranging from illegal possession of a firearm to holding fraudulent documents.
"For too long, these gangs have gone unchecked - flouting all laws and demonstrating a blatant disregard for public safety," Chertoff said in announcing the arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. ICE is an arm of the Homeland Security Department.
Investigators targeted members in 27 states of what they considered to be the most violent street gangs, including Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13; Surenos; the 18th Street Gang; Latin Kings; the Mexican Mafia; Border Brothers; Brown Pride and numerous others.
Many of the arrests came in large urban areas, including 61 in Boston, 28 in Denver, and 23 each in Los Angeles and Detroit. But even smaller cities have been infiltrated by the gangs, the arrests showed, including 42 in Birmingham, Ala., and one each in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and North Platte, Neb.
The crackdown is part of ICE's ongoing "Operation Community Shield" campaign, targeting gang activity with other federal and state authorities. So far, ICE has made 1,057 arrests as part of the sting.
More than half of them have been members of MS-13, a street gang rooted in Central America where members have been known to behead enemies and attack with grenades and machetes. Federal officials estimate between 8,000 and 10,000 MS-13 members live in 31 states - the majority of them in the country illegally.
"We're just getting started," said ICE investigations chief Marcy Forman.
Oh yeah, I sure woke up feeling safer!
Only one reason these murderers have spawned nationwide.
Someone in this country is asleep a the wheel.
Why are you pretending to be an idiot? FReepers know that this came about BECAUSE of Bush and that it is the second massive raid carried out in the last couple of months.
That statement is baloney of the lowest type. After all the bitching and whining that has come from you even massive sweeps doesn't change your tune.
This shows me that NOTHING that is done will get any appropriate response from you. So why should anyone care about what you say?
""For too long, these gangs have gone unchecked - flouting all laws and demonstrating a blatant disregard for public safety,"
Right on your holy Czar-ness. How many billions of dollars have we spent and how many police-state laws have been passed to "get tough on crime"? I'm beginning to think that we've been lied to, led on, bankrupted, humiliated and scorned by a bunch of law-enforcment/legislator con-men. Forgive me if I don't get up and cheer you putz.
"Brown Pride?" oh my god please don't let the American government discriminate against the "Brown Pride" gang.
Don't brag about bailing the Titanic with a teaspoon, while a million gallons an hour pour into the broken hull.
Put up a proper security fence and STOP the criminal invasion, THEN brag about picking up 600 criminals.
So the President was right about Americans not being willing to do the job!?
Serious jail time for those who employ illegals.
Watch how fast they deport themselves (and pay for the ticket) when the jobs disappear.
Yes I am. You and I have sparred before. I admire what you have done and I was one of the few who told you so when I saw you at the airport. That was when others are spitting on you.
However, being a hero one time doesn't make you a hero forever. In fact, because you are a hero, society expects more from you.
My point is, that you and your kind, perhaps because of your background, sit behind a keyboard and demand that things be fixed right now, according to you proscription, without regard for the political and practical realities of life. There is no Santa or Easter Bunny. We can't wish things into being. We have opponents who want things differently than we do.
I admire you for what you were and for what you did but, unfortunately for some, time marches on. You can't just sit at home and be Macho Man and make things better in the real world, today.
"sparred?"
you couldn't carry my combat boots, genius! LMAO
get lost!
"Slap!"
Living in the past can be enjoyable, until the the present and future intrude. You can only coast on past glories for a brief period of tiem. Good luck to you. I hope you can coast forever.
Excellent news!
One more thing. Those who boast about what they have done, usually didn't.
One thing I didn't know until recently, and maybe you don't either, is that because of a clause in a civil rights law, employers are not even allowed to ask whether a person is legal or not. If they do they face a lawsuit. So they hire them and if busted resort to the law as their defense.
bump
After reading your spew above, I suggest you take your screen name to heart. Focus on the first half . . .
Prentending? Why sir, I assure you that I am an authentic idiot.
FReepers know that this came about BECAUSE of Bush and that it is the second massive raid carried out in the last couple of months.
Yes, we all know what a tough stance Bush has taken against illegal aliens, and his obsessive pursuit of border control. It's commong knowledge ... in the twighlight zone.
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