Thread: 32 gang members arrested by I.C.E.

I.C.E. News Release

November 18, 2008

Thirty two gang members and associates arrested by ICE and local law enforcement partners

Single-day operation sends clear zero-tolerance message to gang criminals that threaten Garden State communities

NEWARK , NJ - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents working, with several New Jersey law enforcement agencies, arrested 32 gang members and associates today in the Butler and Bloomingdale area.

Twelve of those arrested are violent gang members from Mexico, some with criminal records which include aggravated assault, robbery and domestic violence. One of the gang members was previously convicted for assaulting a pregnant female.

All 32 individuals have been charged with administrative immigration violations.

"ICE remains committed to bringing transnational gang members to justice - here in New Jersey or wherever they threaten our citizens. With the arrest of these 32 gang members and associates, the impact on public safety is undeniable," said Matthew J. Etre, acting special agent in charge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Newark.

ICE partnered with the Butler Police Department, Bloomingdale Police Department, Morris County Park Police and Passaic County Prosecutor's Office during the operation. ICE targets all transnational criminal street gangs that endanger our communities and pose a potential threat to national security. The multi-agency operation resulted in the seizure of gang paraphernalia and approximately $10,000.

"The Borough of Bloomingdale has certainly experienced its share of the problems associated with criminal street gangs. The cooperation and assistance afforded by ICE has been extremely valuable," said Detective Sergeant Steve Caputo.

"Butler Police assisted and cooperated with ICE in their law enforcement duties on immigration and illegal aliens to prevent and deter those suspected of gang activity, and to disrupt their ability to possibly engage in criminal matters, all which can affect the community," said Butler Police Chief Edward Card.

These enforcement actions are part of ICE's Operation Community Shield, which involves strong partnerships and cooperation with existing federal, state and local anti-gang efforts. ICE uses intelligence on gang organizations and leadership provided by state and local authorities. This information is used whenever possible to arrest, prosecute, and/or deport individual gang members.

Earlier this year, in June, agents from the ICE Office of the Special Agent in Charge, Newark, NJ, along with the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, Union City Police Department and West New York Police Department, conducted an enforcement operation in the Hudson County, New Jersey area, which resulted in the arrests of 39 violent gang members.

Nationally, together with our federal, state and local partners, ICE agents have arrested more than 11,400 known gang members and associates, representing hundreds of criminal gangs. Many of those arrested have violent criminal histories with convictions for murder, robbery, rape and assault. In New Jersey more than 250 violent gang members and their associates have been arrested by ICE this year.

To report suspicious activity, members of the public should call the ICE at 1-866-DHS-2ICE.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0811/081118newark.htm

Is ICE going after the entire family of the gang members?

ICE is not telling us if they are deporting the entire family.

Comments are left at the source link.
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Immigration officials arrest 33 in Butler and Bloomingdale
by Margaret McHugh and Kristin Alloway/The Star-Ledger Wednesday November 19, 2008, 6:30 PM

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been stepping up efforts to round up and deport undocumented immigrants, arrested 33 people in Butler and Bloomingdale, including 12 people ICE claims are gang members from Mexico.

The suspects, who were not named and included two women, were taken into custody Tuesday morning and were sent to county jails in Middlesex, Hudson and Essex counties, ICE spokesman Michael Gilhooly said.

ICE identified 12 of them as violent gang members, six of whom have criminal records in New Jersey, said Harold Ort, another ICE spokesman. The gang members belong to the Mexican Latin Kings and Sureno 13, Ort said.

ICE refused to identify those rounded up because they were charged with administrative immigration violations, not criminal offenses, Ort said. He said names aren't released under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Department of Homeland Security's privacy policy.

A local pastor said two of those arrested - a man and a woman - are members of his congregation who come to church every Sunday and didn't fit the image of gang members. A local attorney said she found the ICE announcements about the raids disconcerting.

"These numbers reveal that about a third of the arrests were gang members, and presumably the others were swept up in dragnets," said Bassina Farbenblum, an attorney with Seton Hall Law School's Center for Social Justice. "The fact that they are labeled by ICE as gang members doesn't necessarily mean they are gang members."

The Seton Hall Center for Social Justice filed a Freedom of Information Act request in December 2007, asking ICE for information pertinent to New Jersey immigration arrests dating back to 2006, in which the names of those arrested were withheld, she said.

The roundup, part of ICE's Operation Community Shield, targeted people whom Bloomingdale and Butler police suspected took part in gang activity, Ort said.

"We're all working together to eradicate these individuals from our streets to make them safe," said Ort, noting gangs are becoming more prevalent outside cities. "Gang penetration has moved from urban areas into the suburbs."

Ort said ICE and the local agencies spent more than two months investigating these individuals, including doing surveillances. However, none of the people committed a crime during that period, and none was picked up on an arrest warrant, he said.

Besides seizing $10,000, authorities confiscated photographs and cell phone images of suspects flashing gang signs, Ort said.

Pastor Steven Bechtold of the Butler United Methodist Church had heard some of those arrested had been involved with gang activity, but said that did not fit with the image of the two people he knows who were arrested. He declined to name them.

"Both people are active church attenders who come to worship every week," Bechtold said. "They are active in our Bible study group. They volunteer around the church -- sometimes it's doing outside lawn work, washing dishes for dinners. We had very positive experiences."

All of the suspects rounded up Tuesday will go before an immigration judge for removal proceedings, Gilhooly said. While they are being held in New Jersey now, they could be sent to jails in other states. "We manage our bed space nationally," Gilhooly said.

Immigration attorney Michael L. Detzky in Freehold said the transfer out-of-state can happen in a matter of days unless the person gets an attorney and the attorney notifies ICE to keep the client local.

Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, commended ICE's efforts: "This...reminds us how useful immigration law enforcement is in disrupting criminal activities," Camarota said.

"It's harder to make a case about gang activity because they tend to be a closed group. When you have an immigration charge, the question is, are they in the country legally," Camarota said.

Between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, a total of 4,194 immigrants in New Jersey - more than 30 percent of whom had prior criminal convictions - were deported to their native countries, a 25-percent increase over the prior fiscal year, according to ICE statistics released this month. Nationwide, ICE returned more than 349,000 aliens, a 20 percent increase over 2007.

www.nj.com