Nearly 300 Los Angeles area gang members and associates arrested in nationwide crackdown

Nearly 300 gang members and associates across the Los Angeles area were arrested as part of a larger nationwide crackdown that targeted gangs involved in cross-border smuggling of people and weapons, drug trafficking, identity theft and other crimes, federal officials said today.

The arrests were among 1,785 made around the country as part of Operation Community Shield, a sixth-month investigation of transnational gangs that ended Sept 30, said Virginia Kice, spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Among those arrested were Elmer Fredy Hernandez-Ayala, 29, an El Salvadoran national and member of the 18th Street gang, for reentry after deportation, and nine members and associates of Barrio Evil 13, a Bell Gardens street gang, for drug trafficking and weapons charges, Kice said.

“The goal of Community Shield isn’t to just take individual gang members off the streets, but to disrupt the cycle of crime and dismantle the entire gang,” Kice said.

Of the 293 arrests made in the Los Angeles area, 185 were on criminal charges, Kice said. The remaining arrests were for immigration violations, and federal authorities are working to deport the foreign nationals from the country, Kice said.

Many of those arrested were previously in custody, she said.

Kice said that many transnational street gangs have significant numbers of foreign-born members, and that federal officials, along with state and local law enforcement, have worked on identifying gang members who were previously deported and prosecuting them for felony immigration violation.

“This is a very, very effective way to take gang members previously off the street,” she said. Using both criminal arrest authority and prosecuting them for immigration violations is a “one-two punch,” she said.

The majority of arrests occurred in Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire, Kice said. In Los Angeles County, 147 were arrested, compared to 135 in the Inland Empire, nine in Orange County and two in Ventura County.

-- My-Thuan Tran

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Riverside police officer is suspect in robbery

Case of boy trapped in balloon aircraft recalls man who flew around L.A. in lawn chair

State superintendent joins students in earthquake drill

L.A. schools chief stands by controversial deal to use laid-off teachers as subs

Gun-toting schoolboy lied about racial threats, El Monte police say

After rains, another heat wave comes to Los Angeles [Updated]

Roman Polanski suffers another setback in efforts to be released from jail

Man fatally stabbed at downtown L.A. hotel

State's largest-ever earthquake drill begins this morning

Comments

[MadMommy]

The sanctuary policies have made our streets a breeding ground for all illegal immigrants to participate in criminal activity with impunity. Stop all sanctuary policies and enforce immigration laws now.

Anyone who is against enforcement of the laws of legal immigration is in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the American taxpayer. We are being robbed. Our children are being robbed and the open borders, amnesty advocates are acting against the interest of AMERICA and it's citizens. If you encourage illegal immigrants to come here and subvert the immigration process, breaking every law they want to stay here and take American jobs away from Americans, you deserve to be arrested. This is a land of laws.

NO JOBS for illegal immigrants and they will go home the same way they came here.

Deportation by attrition.

[Elvis Cole]

Sounds great, but because of our porous border they'll have a laugh and a couple of tequilas and be back here in a week.

[A PROUD AMERICAN]

This is great news! Kudo's to ICE and the police. They need to keep going after these gang bangers and illegals and deport them all !

[yxk0012]

MadMommy, you're only half right. Those who impede immigration enforcement (be it activists or senators) are, in fact, committing not just a small crime but high treason. Remember what the Mexican president said? "Wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico". What we have here is not just a bunch of illegal gardeners - it's a 4-million-strong foreign legion in California alone. It is only a matter of time before they start going after those who speak against amnesty (and after their families, too).

[lageneration]

I wonder who will be paying Social Security and Medicare for the Baby Boomer Generation MadMommy? Immigrants. You hate them and claim they rob you, but without them, you will retire into a blackhole of a situation. We need these people to continue paying taxes and filling jobs.

Don't aggregate all immigrants as gang members and drug traffickers. It is a small population of them that give the rest of the immigrant community a bad name. Besides this small minority, the majority of immigrants crave for jobs to work hard, and give their children and education so that in the future they can contribute to America. They flee war torn countries were the mafia rule the streets to try to raise a family. They pay taxes. They want their children to live in freedom and not have to grow up in the terrible situation most Latin American countries are facing.

[Jon K.]

MadMommy,

"The sanctuary policies have made our streets a breeding ground for all illegal immigrants to participate in criminal activity with impunity. Stop all sanctuary policies and enforce immigration laws now."

I agree.

Illegal immigration hurts the United States those who argue otherwise are just bleeding hearts who lack the intestinal fortitude to address tough issues with decisive action.

[rick]

heck yea Im going back keep my plate hot homeboys

[AdoptiveFather, Los Angeles CA]

What happens when 20 million people break into your country?

They start using stuff. They use stuff like water adn stuff like oil.

I know oil best. If you break the numbers you find that the average person in America uses 27 barrels of oil per year.

Multiply that by 20 million and you find that illegal aliens account for an astounding 1.5 million barrels of oil per day!!

That is over twice as much oil as Alaska produces and Alaska production is dropping by 6% per year.

Wake up people. You are not frogs!! Take the temperature see how close we are to boiling!!

[Johnny G]

The sanctuary policy has nothing to do with creating criminal activity with impunity. If you commit a crime, you are still arrested and prosecuted. The only thing the sanctuary policy does is make sure that there is no cooperation with ICE. But that won't stop ICE from conducting their own background checks of people who are prosecuted in the criminal justice system. The fact is that if you didn't have sanctuary policies in place, many Americans would be at risk for being deported. If you were walking down the street and suddenly the police asked you for proof that you are a citizen, could you do it? (note: driver's license is not proof of citizenship). Now, you may not be afraid, because you are white. But then that begs the question of why our immigration laws are being enforced in a way that is effectively racist. Do you know what the second largest group of illegal immigrants in the US is? The Irish. Go ask one of them how much they fear getting caught in a raid. So the point is, don't overlook the importance of the sanctuary city policy, because it definitely effects your personal liberties. And believe me, there have been plenty of cases where American citizens are deported to México and have had a hard time getting back in.

[BigB69]

Ok geniouses. For one, who is going to do the jobs that many of the hard working, law abiding "illegal immigrants" do? Most "anglo" Americans would not do 5 minutes of work in a field, car wash, hotel room or clean your houses. So dont tell me that illegal immigrants are taking away Americans jobs. Secondly, do you think that all gang members are illegal? There are more black gang members than latinos and I doubt any of them are illegal. Do you really think that deporting them is going to do away with the gang problem?

[Ryan]

I'm concerned that the L.A. Times has omitted that these arrests are of "alleged" gang members. If being a member of a gang is a crime, shouldn't the editorial standards of this paper note that the arrests are for alleged crimes as these people have not yet been tried in court?

Omitting this crucial word is the difference between casting a whole class of people as guilty when guilt may not yet have been proven and it sends the L.A. Times down a slippery slope. This is especially true when there is a mass arrest of 300 people. I find it hard to believe that all 300 people arrested at one time are guilty as charged. Yet the L.A. Times has branded all of these people guilty by association of their arrest.

Please exercise restraint. Simply because a police officer or a press release says these are all gang members doesn't make it so. Your journalistic credibility and the lives of some innocent people are at stake.

[Hagop]

Until I read about 300 gang members put to death for their crimes I don't care what the authorities are wasting their time with. As others have said, if deported they'll come right back because our borders aren't sealed. I don't want to spend a dime housing them in prison.

[David in Los Angeles]

Our misguided immigration policies continue to land on the backs of the working poor. The millions of legal immigrants - that is, those with papers and green cards - and ten of millions of American citizens, here in Los Angeles and around the country.

The well-headed on the westside and elsewhere are not being terrorized by street thugs mentioned in the article. If they were, this wouldn't even be an issue.

This isn't a "race" issue - it's a civil rights issue for American citizens and non-citizens who are here LEGALLY.

When will our elected officials demand that our border policies are enfored?

[Tony]

I'm sure the Mexicans were pretty upset when our forefathers invaded their land and forcibly took it under the guise of "manifest destiny." There were a lot of Mexican land owners who had their land taken away from them by us Americans. What goes around comes around.

[Mr. Cynic]

i hope they start arresting the politicians and business people who thrive off the having these gang members here

arresting individuals does nothing really. you're all applauding for BS and swallowing nothing but tripe. Nothing change structurally, except you have new faces replacing these gang members.

go after those senators and business people who make a profit from anti-gang efforts. go after those who know these type of sweeps will do nothing except waste money and resources... its all a publicity stunt.

Nothing will really change from this. The "powers that be" pulled yet another fast one on you racist bigots. They are using yourselves against yourselves. and you all not only not care, but you all embrace it!

SHAMEFUL!!!

[JSA26]

I am amazed at the dichotomy there is on this topic.

What the hell does someone working in a car wash have to do with gang members?

What do black gang members born in this country have to do with illegal immigrants?

These are bad people, the fact that they are here illegally means we can make them go away. They might get back in but then we have even more legal ammunition.

I applaud ICE and the other agencies cooperating in this effort. The sanctuary movement that decries this effort is way off base and hurting their agenda by supporting evil people.

[Cathy]

It is not the Irish anymore, according to a study done in August of 2009. Indians from India, are the second largest nationality of illegal immigration behind Mexicians

[Father of a few]

Reading many of the posts here is very sad. The blatant raciscm and fear mongering is so tiresome and brainless. Yes, there are criminals among the immigrant population, just as there are in the citizen population (care to talk about Aryian Nation?). The problem is not open borders or santuary, the problem is that we have a society that breeds self centered, materialistic bombasts, along with crimminals.

[Joel E. Wischkaemper]

The sanctuary policies have made our streets a breeding ground for all illegal immigrants to participate in criminal activity with impunity. Stop all sanctuary policies and enforce immigration laws now.
======================================
Sanctuary polices have become a crime against the citizens of this country.

[edward rasen]

Illegal immigrants should not receive any type of welfare or aid to dependent mothers or food stamps, etc. They should not be allowed to obtain identity cards or driver's licenses especially since most give false names. They should not be allowed to attend public schools.

It would be very easy to seal the border. simply redeploy the 60,000 U.S. military personel in Germany who are doing nothing except goofing off and drinking beer. Or bring home the 40,000 troops in Okinawa and Japan and use them long the border. Instead of all those troops spending money in foreign countries they could boost local economies along the border.

Why are we still "defending" Germany and Japan and from who?

Also, instead of rebuilding Iraq, Haiti and Afghanistan spend the money in the USA on projects like"green energy" so we are not dependent on Arab oil. How about subsidizing solar heating for homeowners?

Force welfare recipients to perform community service if they are not working.