Posted on 03/15/2006 8:20:49 PM PST by Calpernia
ICE ARRESTS 375 GANG MEMBERS & ASSOCIATES IN TWO-WEEK ENFORCEMENT ACTION
Action is latest under Operation Community Shield, which has yielded 2,388 gang arrests in first year
 WASHINGTON, D.C. - During a two-week enforcement action that culminated yesterday, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 375 gang members and associates in 23 states in a joint effort with law enforcement agencies nationwide. The arrests are the latest under the auspices of “Operation Community Shield,” a comprehensive initiative launched by ICE roughly one year ago to disrupt and dismantle transnational, violent street gangs. Operation Community Shield represents the first time the federal government has used immigration and customs authorities in a combined, national campaign against criminal street gangs in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the results at a press conference today with ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers; Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Emilio Gonzalez; Assistant Director of Field Operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Michael Bouchard, First Assistant Chief of the Dallas Police Department David O'Neal Brown, and Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division Deborah Pierce.
In the past year, ICE has conducted several targeted enforcement actions under Operation Community Shield, including the latest one. In total, these efforts have resulted in the arrest of 2,388 members of 239 different gangs and the seizure of 117 firearms. Fifty-one of those arrested were gang leaders. Roughly 922 of those arrested were from the street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Those arrested under Operation Community Shield are prosecuted criminally or removed from the United States through immigration proceedings. To date, 533 have been charged criminally, while 1,855 have been hit with administrative immigration charges.
In the latest enforcement action that began on Feb. 24, 2006, ICE teamed up with its law enforcement partners to arrest large numbers of gang members in Dallas (44), San Diego (41), Washington, D.C. (22), Miami (22), and Raleigh, N.C. (19). Gang members were also arrested in locations such as Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Des Moines, Iowa; and Springfield, Missouri. Those arrested included members of MS-13, Surenos, 18th Street Gang, Latin Kings, Bloods, Crips, Armenian Power, Street Thug Criminals, Brown Pride, Asian Dragon Family, Avenue Assassins, Spanish Gangster Disciples, Big Time Killers and Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos.
More than 260 of the 375 individuals arrested in the latest action have past criminal records, most of them violent. ICE agents arrested 73 of the individuals on new criminal charges ranging from drug and firearms violations to charges of re-entering the country after deportation. The rest have been accused of administrative immigration violations and placed into deportation proceedings. Some of those arrested include:
“The lawlessness that these violent gangs propagate presents a grave threat to public safety,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “We are meeting their victimization of the innocent with hard-hitting enforcement actions that lead to criminal prosecutions and deportations. Operation Community Shield embodies the power behind law enforcement partnerships, at all levels, to share information and combat these intolerable criminal elements.”
“Transnational street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to urban and rural communities throughout the United States. Their violence, sophistication, and scope have reached intolerable levels,” said ICE Assistant Secretary Myers. “Operation Community Shield demonstrates how ICE is working with its law enforcement partners and leveraging its broad authorities to disrupt these criminal organizations on a national scale.”
Partnerships with law enforcement / Impact on violent crime:
Law enforcement partnerships at the local level are critical to the success of Operation Community Shield. Recent collaboration in Dallas was representative of joint operations nationwide. In Dallas, ICE received data from the Dallas Police Department about local violent gang members. ICE conducted further investigation to determine if any were subject to arrest for federal customs or immigration violations. After identifying targets subject to ICE authorities, ICE and Dallas police conducted a joint operation that netted 44 gang members.
First Assistant Chief of the Dallas Police Department David O'Neal Brown said, “Operation Community Shield has had a direct impact on violent crime in the Dallas area. Over the past year, the murder rate in the Dallas metropolitan area decreased roughly twenty percent compared to the year before. This is a successful program that the Dallas Police Department is proud to participate in.”
ICE has also worked with its partners at the federal level. In the recent action, ICE teamed with USCIS to identify 48 MS-13 members who had recently applied for immigration benefits by comparing its list of thousands of gang targets against the USCIS database of immigration benefit applicants. This effort led to the arrest of 4 MS-13 members and the placement of immigration detainers on 8 MS-13 members in custody.
“Operation Community Shield is a prime example of how USCIS and ICE have joined forces to identify and remove those who pose a threat to public safety,” said USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez. “Just this past year, USCIS identified and referred more than 4,000 cases involving fraud to ICE. This joint anti-fraud and national security effort is a major priority for the Department of Homeland Security.”
ICE has also worked closely with its partners at the ATF and FBI. ICE has been coordinating street gang operations with the ATF's Violent Crime Impact Team (VCIT) initiative, which operates in 23 cities throughout the country to identify, arrest, and prosecute the most violent criminals in communities. The VCIT is especially focused on the reduction of gun-related violence often perpetrated by violent gangs. ICE has also been coordinating all its gang targets with the FBI and its MS-13 National Gang Task Force prior to arrest.
About Operation Community Shield:
Operation Community Shield was launched in February 2005 after a threat assessment by ICE field offices identified MS-13 as one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the country. The assessment found that most of these gang members were foreign-born; in the United States illegally; had prior criminal convictions; and/or were involved in crimes that made them subject to ICE's broad immigration and customs authorities.
ICE kicked off Operation Community Shield with an enforcement action that resulted in the arrest of more than 100 members of MS-13. In the months that followed, ICE agents nationwide joined ranks and continued targeting MS-13 members in their jurisdictions. In May 2005, ICE expanded Operation Community Shield to include all criminal street gangs and prison gangs with foreign-born members.
Since that time, ICE has been targeting all violent gang members nationwide by using its administrative immigration authorities to detain and remove illegal alien gang members from the country and by using its criminal authorities to arrest and prosecute gang members involved in criminal activities. Operation Community Shield Bullet Points Fact Sheet
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check this one:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597264/posts
This is an invasion to a point where we need the military here at home to protect us. We face far greater danger from these hordes roaming across our land than from Iraq.
Tom Knott wrote: "Jerry Weast . . . advised the school board not to vote on Maryland House Bill 531, which would require contractors for . . . schools to conduct background checks on their employees.
"His fear was that background checks would lead to the uncovering of illegal aliens. . . . Alas, this fear trumped the fear of sex offenders laboring in the vicinity of what they view as prey. . . .
"It is unacceptable . . . that a school superintendent would be more concerned with . . . illegal aliens than . . . innocent children possibly being put in harm's way of a sexual predators." The Washington Times, March 16, 2006)
bump!!!
Hey, David O'Neal Brown...imagine if you arrested one illegal per day in Dallas. That would be more than twice the amount you are bragging about. One per day, Mr. Brown.
Shoot...pull your ICE truck into any new construction site, and you could meet your quota for the month.
I'm simply not impressed.
Welcome to FR!
Don't forget smuggling and sex slaves in the good of USA.
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant!
DEATH BLOW TO GUEST WORKER AMNESTY – GAO REPORT EXPOSES MASSIVE MISMANAGEMENT AND CORRUPTION
http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp? articleID=6857
Tony Dolz March 15, 2006 The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has dealt the fatal blow to the controversial concept of Guest Worker Amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens now living in the United States in defiance of our laws. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress charged with examining matters relating to the receipt and payment of public funds.
In a devastating report released today, the GAO charges the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) – this is the agency under the Department of Homeland Security that would be in charge of proposed Guest Worker Amnesty – with a failed organizational infrastructure and massive mismanagement and corruption.
On the eve of debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee, of the House passed Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 - HR 4437, the GAO report exposes rampant immigration chaos and USCIS corruption. Among the GAO's most alarming findings are that 33 percent of religious worker visas were issued fraudulently. There is documented evidence that radical Islamists, with ties to terrorist organizations, have used the religious worker visa category to gain admission to the United States .
The timing of the report mars the hopes of millions of unethical employers, that on or off their payroll employ 12 million illegal aliens. These crooks were counting on lobbying efforts by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other pro-illegal immigration advocates, for influencing passage of a Guest Worker Amnesty Bill in the Senate.
The Government agency that would be responsible for administering the controversial Guest Worker Amnesty that would reward 12 million illegal aliens living and working un-lawfully with legal status, is the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The Copley News Service reported on March 7 th , that prior to the damning GAO report, “Michael Maxwell stepped down last month as director of the Office of Security at USCIS, and sought protection under the federal whistle-blower protection law. He claims that senior agency officials had been retaliating against him for telling Congress about what he described as serious national security vulnerabilities that persisted despite his warnings to those running the agency.”
In addition, Maxwell claims the agency lacks the resources to handle some 500 allegations of criminal misconduct against agency employees, including allegations of espionage and acceptance of bribes.
Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman Angelica Alfonso declined requests for an interview. She released a statement yesterday that said the agency is confident of its processes, and that it takes the allegations seriously. This has to be taken with a huge grain of salt as the agency has been under investigation since 2001.
One of Maxwell's attorneys, Rosemary Jenks, said his concerns demonstrate an underlying tension between Citizenship and Immigration Services' dual missions of providing immigration benefits to applicants and of protecting national secur ity.”
Why did the GAO conduct a study on the USCIS?
See Full Report here: (http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/gaoimmbenefits31006.pdfIn 2002)
The just released GAO report documents that immigration benefit fraud was pervasive and significant and the approach to controlling it was fragmented. Experts believe that individuals ineligible for these benefits, including terrorists and criminals, could use fraudulent means to enter or remain in the U.S. The Congress requested that GAO evaluate U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service's (USCIS) anti-fraud efforts.
The report addresses the questions: (1) What do available data and information indicate regarding the nature and extent of fraud? (2) What actions has USCIS taken to improve its ability to detect fraud? (3) What actions does the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) take to sanction those who commit fraud?
Hordes of immigration law attorneys have joined the ranks of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations dedicated to cheapening the wages of American workers through the oversupply of desperate illegal foreign workers. How? Through massive illegal immigration! Our unprotected borders have been allowed to fester with a booming $140 billion per year in drug trafficking and $10 billion dollar in human trafficking in the name of America 's addiction to cheap illegal labor.
Which immigration law firm would not like to have a client base of 12 million desperate illegal aliens that grows at the rate of 2.5 million per year.
In one of the largest labor certification fraud schemes ever uncovered by the GAO, federal investigators found evidence that a single prominent immigration attorney in the Washington, D.C., area submitted at least 1,436 and perhaps as many as 2,700 fraudulent employment applications between 1998 and 2002. According to the sworn testimony of a Department of Labor (DOL) special agent, this attorney and his associates are alleged to have made at least $11.4 million for the 1,400 applications that the agent reviewed, in all of which he found evidence of fraud, and perhaps as much as $21.6 million if all 2,700 applications were fraudulent, as he strongly suspected.
USCIS WEAKNESSES POSE A GREAT THREAT OF TERRORISM
The GAO reports goes on to say, “Some individuals seeking immigration benefits pose a threat to national security and public safety, and white collar and other criminals sometimes facilitate immigration benefit fraud. For example, according to Office of Fraud Detection and National Security ( FDNS ) , each year about 5,200 immigration benefit applicants are identified as potential national security risks, because their personal information matches information contained in U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Interagency Border Inspection System, a database of immigration law violators and people of national security interest. Additionally, according to federal prosecutors, immigration benefit fraud may involve other criminal activity, such as income tax evasion, money laundering, production of fraudulent documents, and conspiracy. Also, organized crime groups have used sophisticated immigration fraud schemes, such as creating shell companies, to bring in aliens ostensibly as employees of these companies. In addition, a number of individuals linked to a hostile foreign power's intelligence service were found to have been employed as temporary alien workers on military research.”
Unethical immigration law attorneys should be charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigrats and in creating an unlawful climate that puts all of us at risk of terrorism. Why? Because o nce one of their clients obtains a temporary work authorization fraudulently, an alien can use it to obtain other valid identity documents such as a temporary social security card and a driver's license, thus facilitating their living and working in the United States . It is important to recognize, in the illegal immigration debate, who butters the immigration attorney's bread.
The GAO found that the USCIS is completely unprepared to handle their 7.5 million case work load with their 3000 employees and this is made all the more unlikely given the management system shortfalls and the brazen level of corruption within the organization. Few if any of the present 500 allegations of criminal misconduct against agency employees will be prosecuted. The GAO finds the agency as it stands will be unable to handle the proposed Guest Worker Amnesty proposals bandied about by President Bush and a bi-partisan group of Senators influenced by tearful pleads accompanied by campaign contributions from employers who currently employ illegal aliens.
USCIS mismanagement and corruption is a menace given that Donna Bucella , the Director of the federal Terrorist Screening Center said Tuesday that the agency maintains a list of 200,000 people known or suspected to be terrorists. She reported yesterday, March 14, 2006, that Police and other government workers in the U.S. have come in contact with terrorists or people suspected of foreign terror ties more than 6,000 times in the past 28 months. In addition, she said, that there have been about 28,000 matches worldwide, many of those from U.S. diplomatic outposts that screen applicants for visas to enter the United States .
Does is seem to you that President Bush is doing all that is possible or necessary to secure our borders and to keep us safe from terrorism by enforcing immigration law? Can we trust the Senate with giving us a Guest Worker Amnesty program that is not tainted by political contributions from illegal alien employers? Can we trust that a Guest Worker Amnesty, if approved, would be adequately administered by the USCIS?
Write and call your Senators and share with them your views on Guest Worker Amnesty for 12 million illegal aliens and 200,000 known terrorists, any one of whom could have already slipped through our unprotected borders, or planning to do so.
It has been four and half years since the findings of the 9/11 Commission. Securing our borders was the number one concern of the Commission. None of its border security recommendation have been enacted much less even funded. That is why I decided to become a candidate for the California 41 st Assembly District. I need and welcome your support and contributions.
The Field Poll of September 2005 shows 81% of Californians are concerned about illegal immigration. The Field Poll of March 2006 shows 57% of registered voters and 71% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of illegal immigration. We can win this race!
Support candidates that stand for border security and immigration law enforcement at every level of government, our nation is in danger.
Tony Dolz Candidate California 41 st Assembly District Santa Monica, Malibu, Malibu Heights, Topanga, Pacific Palisades, Agoura, Agoura Heights, Westlake Village, Hidden Hills and Calabasas. www.dolz.com
Good idea!
I WORK FOR THE CHICAGO P.D. WE HAVE OUR HANDS FULL W/ ILLEGALS AND GANG VIOLENCE. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ENFORCE IMMIGRATION, OR EVEN REPORT AN ILLEGAL. NICE SYSTEM. (SARCASM)
I sense some heavy sarcasm there.
I feel for ya, because I know that your case load would drop if we could manage to stop these creeps at the borders.
Those of us who can need to hammer our representatives, keep the pressure on, so that perhaps we can slow down the flood of criminal illegal aliens sneaking into this country.
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