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Federal law enforcement agencies are using a powerful new tool in the fight against what many describe as an epidemic of gang-related crime and violence: deportation orders. The tactic will obviously only work with gang suspects that are foreign nationals and in the country illegally, but federal officials say the tactic already is a success: according to press releases, nearly three dozen gang members who were in the United States illegally have been sent back to their home countries since the program’s first arrests last February.
But the approach also has its risks, including in small farm towns where predominantly Hispanic populations are wary of federal immigration authorities. In Huron, California, for example, federal agents have helped with a growing gang problem, according to Huron Police Chief Frank Steenport.
But the mayor of the tiny southwestern Fresno County town is still upset about a July raid that included federal agents which he learned about only after it was over, as Federal officials apparently did not think it was necessary to call the highest elected official in the municipality to inform him of the operation. Local authorities have, for the most part, welcomed help from federal immigration agents because they have the ability to directly deport gang members who are in the country illegally.
Federal agents also can ensure that lawbreakers get tried in federal court, where conviction rates are between 90 and 100 percent. The idea started with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stationed in Fresno, who offered to help police in an expansion of Operation Community Shield, a program the agency had launched three years prior in major metropolitan areas to target violent transnational street gangs like Mara Salvatrucha 13 (aka MS-13), a particularly violent Los Angeles gang whose members were mostly immigrants from El Salvador.
ICE agents can take someone into custody for immigration violations alone, according to Brian Poulsen, the agent in charge of Fresno’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. “Most of these gang members have come into the U.S. illegally,” he told the Fresno Bee newspaper in a recent interview. “They have already violated federal law.
We don’t need a criminal charge.” In the past, Poulsen said his office lacked the staff to help with gang raids. But now flush with homeland security money, officials turned their attention to the street gangs that terrorize communities.
Local and federal law enforcement officials say the strategy has been a success:so far, 35 gang members in the country illegally have been deported from the Valley as a result of Operation Community Shield sweeps. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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