Posted on 05/14/2017 6:40:05 AM PDT by SandRat
PHOENIX A six-week nationwide gang operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) concluded this weekend with 1,378 arrests across the U.S., 55 in Arizona the largest gang surge conducted by HSI to date. The operation targeted gang members and associates involved in transnational criminal activity including drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human smuggling, sex trafficking, murder and racketeering.
Arizona arrests included 48 U.S. citizens, seven foreign nationals, 16 confirmed gang members, and seven gang associates. Numerous state, local and federal law enforcement partners, including ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), participated in the HSI-led operation, which ran March 26 to May 6.
HSI is committed to combating gang violence and criminal activity in Arizona. The success of this operation is directly attributed to the ongoing collaboration with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, said Scott Brown, special agent in charge of HSI Phoenix. Together, we dealt a serious blow to gang members and other serious criminals as we strive to make our communities safer.
Of the 16 gang members locally arrested, 12 are U.S. citizens and four are foreign nationals two of which are wanted in connection with homicides committed in the U.S.
One of the many individuals encountered by HSI Phoenix special agents is a U.S. citizen and member of the Aryan Brotherhood who was arrested in Surprise, Arizona, after barricading himself inside his home.
Individuals are confirmed as gang members if they admit membership in a gang; have been convicted of violating Title 18 USC 521 or any other federal or state law criminalizing or imposing civil consequences for gang-related activity; or if they meet a combination of other criteria such as having tattoos identifying a specific gang or being identified as a gang member by a reliable source.
HSI enforcement actions occurred around the country, with the greatest activity taking place in the Houston, New York, Atlanta and Newark areas.
Operation Community Shield
Project New Dawn is the latest example of ICEs ongoing efforts, begun in 2005 under Operation Community Shield, to target violent gang members and their associates, eradicate the violence they inflict upon our communities and stop the cash flow to transnational organized crime groups. Since 2005, HSI special agents working in conjunction with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have made more than 47,000 gang-related arrests.
Operation Community Shield is a global initiative in which HSI collaborates with federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement partners to combat the growth and proliferation of transnational criminal street gangs, prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs in the United States and abroad. Through its domestic and international Operation Community Shield task forces, HSI leverages its worldwide presence and expansive statutory and civil enforcement authorities to mitigate the threats posed by these global networks, often through the tracing and seizing of cash, weapons and other illicit proceeds.
Partnerships with state, local, federal and international law enforcement agencies are critical to the success of HSI gang enforcement operations. Law enforcement partners provide actionable intelligence, which is critical in the targeting of gangs and their membership for enforcement actions. HSI special agents use intelligence gathered from surge operations to pursue complex criminal enterprise investigations and federal prosecutions.
MS-13
As part of Operation Community Shield, HSI has affected more than 4,300 criminal arrests and nearly 3,000 civil immigration arrests of MS-13 leaders, members and associates, including criminal arrests for Racketeering Influence Corrupt Organizations (RICO), Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering (VICAR) and gang conspiracy violations investigated by HSI Baltimore, HSI DC, HSI Charlotte, HSI New York, HSI Long Island, HSI Newark, HSI Boston, HSI San Francisco, HSI San Jose, HSI Los Angeles, HSI Detroit, HSI Nashville, HSI Houston, and our state and local law enforcement partners.
In October 2012, HSI worked with the U.S. Department of Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control to designate MS-13, the first designation of a transnational criminal street gang. As a result of the designation, any property or property interests in the U.S., or in the possession or control of U.S. persons in which MS-13 has an interest, are blocked.
HSIs National Gang Unit
HSIs National Gang Unit oversees HSIs expansive transnational gang portfolio and enables special agents to bring the fight to these criminal enterprises through the development of uniform enforcement and intelligence-sharing strategies.
Recent NGU-led operations have included: Southern Tempest in 2011, targeting gangs affiliated with drug trafficking; Project Nefarious in 2012, targeting gangs involved in human smuggling and trafficking; Project Southbound in 2014, targeting the Sureños, the fasting growing transnational gang in the U.S., Project Wildfire in 2015, and Project Shadowfire in 2016.
To report suspicious activity, call ICE's 24-hour toll-free hotline at: 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or visit ice.gov.
I can’t determine if these “Aryans” were helping Latino crime syndicates or some sort of international Aryan cartel.
Would this mean they were trafficking in whites or some other race?
i wish more were illegals so we could deport them.
I wish they would arrest family and friends who aid these criminal activities by housing, feeding, driving, whatever. it won’t stop by just arresting certain ones, it’s many times generational “family culture/tradition” so they think it’s ok to grow up and do similar.
One of the many individuals encountered by HSI Phoenix special agents is a U.S. citizen and member of the Aryan Brotherhood..
is some doofus white guy. One. Probably the only.
One of the many individuals encountered by HSI Phoenix special agents is a U.S. citizen and member of the Aryan Brotherhood.
Now do you understand. NeoNAZI JERKS, A** Holes.
Drop them all off at McCain’s estate.
55 in Arizona?
Could go into South Tucson and march out about 3000.
Same story for Guadalupe and South Phoenix.
Must be tough to be an ICE agent, realize that you have absolutely no idea what’s going on.
Maybe they get all their intel from the SPLC.
My guilty pleasure is watching Live PD on A&E Channel and they showed some of this live from AZ on Friday night.
I noticed that too.
For those of you not familiar with the Phoenix Valley, the suburb or Surprise is about as far outside the inner city as you can get. It is the home of a couple of Cactus League spring training camps, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun Valley, Sun City Festival and more chain restaurants for old people that eat at 4:00 that you can shake a stick at.
HEY! I eat at 5 or 6.
I always tell the young clerks, oh, I don’t want that — that’s what those old-people get.
Those are the “second” and “third” sittings at those restaurants. Suck it up, you only have an hour to eat, then your table goes to the next “fleet” of codgers.
Who would have ever thought we’d see the day when our “ICE spokesperson” was Yasmeen Pitts OKeefe.
Sun City Festival is in Buckeye, and I’m done with dinner by 4pm.
HOORAY I.C.E. officers.
More Trump effect...
The AB suspect had nothing to do with Mexican/MS drug gangs except he had too had a warrant for his arrest.
That’s true. Buckeye extended it’s reach to the north, I forgot about that.
There isn’t anyplace to eat out there however.
The other thing I forgot to stress is that Surprise (and surrounding areas) sure have a lot of snow-birds.
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