31 arrested in San Diego-area ICE-led anti-gang crackdown (BorderFire Report)

31 arrested in San Diego-area ICE-led anti-gang crackdown
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 08:51 ICE

SAN DIEGO - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced on July 19 the arrest of 31 men following a multi-agency enforcement operation targeting transnational gang members in the San Diego area.

The week-long operation, which concluded on July 16, is the latest local effort as part of Operation Community Shield, an ongoing ICE HSI initiative to target, investigate and arrest gang members and gang associates operating in our local communities.

Of the 31 individuals taken into custody during the operation, 22 are members or associates of street gangs based in the San Diego, Vista, Escondido and San Marcos. Ten of those individuals are being prosecuted on federal or state criminal charges. The remaining 12 have been charged with administrative immigration violations and are being processed for removal from the United States.

In the course of conducting the operation, authorities also encountered and took custody of nine individuals, who were not documented gang members, but are suspected of criminal charges or administrative immigration violations.

In all, 12 of the 31 persons arrested during the enforcement action are being criminally prosecuted. The charges range from drug offenses and violation of a gang injunction to obstructing law enforcement and illegally reentering the United States after deportation. Four of those arrested are U.S. citizens. The remainder are foreign nationals from five countries, including Mexico, Iraqi, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Among the five suspects charged with re-entry after deportation, two are known gang members from the "South Los" street gang in North County and the "Shelltown 38th Street" in San Diego. Both have violent criminal histories that include possession of a controlled substance, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and possession of a concealed weapon.

"Street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to San Diego-area communities," said Mike Carney, acting special agent in charge for ICE HSI in San Diego. "By working closely with our local law enforcement partners and taking deportable gang members off of the street, we are disrupting the gangs' operations and the accompanying scourge of crime and violence."

As part of Operation Community Shield, ICE partners with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to target the significant public safety threat posed by transnational criminal street gangs. Since the initiative began in February 2005, ICE agents nationwide have arrested more than 18,000 gang members and associates linked to more than 900 different gangs.

The National Gang Unit at ICE identifies violent street gangs and develops intelligence on their membership, associates, criminal activities and international movements to deter, disrupt and dismantle gang operations by tracing and seizing cash, weapons and other assets derived from criminal seized activities.

5-day DFW gang raid leads to numerous apprehensions (Dallas Crime Examiner)

5-day DFW gang raid leads to numerous apprehensions
July 20, 11:38 AM
Dallas Crime ExaminerBashir Bakhtiari

According to federal immigration personnel, nearly 105 people have been apprehended throughout a raid that came to a close last Saturday and aimed at alleged gang members.

The operation lasted for five days, and those who have taken part in it were local and state law enforcement officials, and those included police officials from Carrollton, Arlington, Irving, and Fort Worth.

John Chakwin, special agent in charge of the Dallas office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declared that among those arrested was an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, who was accused of a home invasion.

According to ICE personnel, the accusations against those apprehended consisted of drive-by shootings, aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon, burglary, and drug possession.

Four of the people apprehended in Dallas and Fort Worth were learned to be members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, one of the vicious groups that operates in both the United States and Central America. However, as authorities declared, numerous have been part of smaller criminal groups in the Dallas area, and those include How High Krew and Deuce Deuce Beckley.

According to Chakwin, "nearly 66 percent of those captured were gang members," and that "he has never observed a lot of local gangs over the past four years that he has been here."

The apprehensions became the work of a national gang unit organized by the ICE. The ICE is known as the largest agency of the Department of Homeland Security.

Even if the raid was announced as aiming at trans-national gangs under "Operation Community Shield," it was learned that 42 of those apprehended turned out to be citizens of the U.S., declared by ICE personnel. Nearly 33 percent of those captured were in the U.S. undocumented and accused of administrative infringements of immigration law. ICE personnel say that the immigration status of other arrestees remains under scrutiny.

According to ICE officials, from the time when ICE initiated its national gang unit, over 17,500 gang members and affiliates have been captured.

Arpaio's deputies arrest 24 at Phoenix business in ID-theft case (Arizona Republic)

Arpaio's deputies arrest 24 at Phoenix business in ID-theft case

by Jolie McCullough - May. 6, 2010 12:54 PM
The Arizona Republic

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies arrested 24 people at a work-site raid at a business park in west Phoenix.

The deputies began their search for 35 people who are suspected of identity theft at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the business near 48th Avenue and Van Buren Street. They remained on site throughout the morning searching two of the company's buildings, an office and a warehouse.

Arpaio said all of the employees were lined up inside the building and being asked for their identification.

Most of the people arrested were suspected of using false identification, Arpaio said. At least one person, however, was expected to be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The business, Laser Masters, sells printer cartridges and toner.

Relatives of those who worked at the company stood outside of the building. Josefina Almanzar, who saw her husband Michael, 30, enter the sheriff's arrest bus in handcuffs, began to scream and cry.

Almanzar said she was in the country legally, but would not comment on her husband's status. "They're just here to work," Almanzar said. "They're not here to steal."

Almanzar said she was worried that her whole family might have to move, but she is hopeful that her husband will not be deported. She said he has worked at the company for a while recycling cartridges.

Almanzar's mother and friend tried to comfort her as she cried and yelled at the sheriff, calling him a coward. Her mother, Rosa Valencia, said her nephew worked in the building as well.

This was the Sheriff's Office's 32nd investigation into workplaces, Arpaio said. It began after a tip came into Arpaio's immigration hotline about 6 months ago.

Deputies remained on the site throughout the morning, and more arrests were expected. Deputies were searching two of the company's buildings, an office and a warehouse.

The last 31 investigations resulted in the arrest of 362 illegal immigrants, the Sheriff's Office said. Of those, 231 were suspected of identity theft.

Jail adds 100-plus prisoners this week after ICE bust (Middletown Journal)

Jail adds 100-plus prisoners this week after ICE bust

By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer
10:57 PM Thursday, May 6, 2010

HAMILTON — Butler County law enforcement played a role in the arrest this week of more than 130 illegal immigrants and fugitives, but only as support and a detention locations.

Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday, May 4, they arrested 137 foreign-born criminals and fugitives in central and southern Ohio during a four-day period ending late Monday in an operation targeting criminals and fugitives in violation of immigration laws. According to ICE officials, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati metro areas — 53 in the Cincinnati metro area, which includes Butler County, 77 in the Columbus area and six in the Dayton metro area.

The federal prisoners are housed in the Butler County Jail, which is the sheriff’s office role in the operation, according to Khaalid Walls, spokesman for the ICE Office of Michigan and Ohio.

Hamilton police was included in list of participating agencies in an ICE news release, but Hamilton police Chief Neil Ferdelman said Wednesday his force did not participate in the operation. “I was surprised to read it myself in the paper,” Ferdelman said
Walls said all the police agencies where arrests were made were included in the release as a “courtesy” but Hamilton police did not play an active role. Arrests were made in the city, but Walls did not know how many.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said his department routinely houses ICE and other federal prisoners because of its 287 G status, which allows local authorities to assist in enforcing federal immigration laws after receiving special training.

“I will say we are pretty full at the jail right now,” Jones said.

The ICE prisoners likely will stay in Butler County awhile because the video systems permit them to be arraigned via camera throughout the country, Jones said.

All 137 arrested were either fugitives, re-entered after previous deportations, or have been convicted of other crimes in the U.S., according to ICE. Because of their serious criminal histories and prior immigration arrest records, at least 25 of those arrested during the enforcement surge face federal prosecution, ICE officials said.

Illegal Immigrant Arrested for Identity Theft (KSAZ-AZ)

Illegal Immigrant Arrested for Identity Theft
Published : Monday, 03 May 2010, 3:56 PM MDT

PRESCOTT - A 44-year-old man who authorities say was in the U.S. illegally has been arrested for taking another person's identity and using a stolen social security number.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office says that Raymund Corral was caught using the social security number of a 23-year-old Prescott man to gain employment at a concrete company in Mesa.

Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Bureau interviewed the 23-year-old last month and verified his social security number. They then conducted a record check and noticed that another individual was using the victims SSN.

Detectives went out to the Whitton Concrete/Plumbing Company in Mesa to contact Corral. He was arrested for taking the identity of another and booked at the Camp Verde Detention Center.

Corral remains jailed without bond. Authorities say he admitted to being in the country illegally and using the stolen SSN.