Chicago Sun-Times

55 gang members face deportation
WAUKEGAN | But sweep not part of federal enforcement: cop

August 29, 2007
BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter ecepeda@suntimes.com

Operation Lake County Gang Search 2007 has been under way since Sunday in Waukegan, coming in the wake of last month's major immigration rights rally and the decision by police to apply for special training to deport violent criminals.

"This is not part of 287(g)," Waukegan Police Chief Bill Biang said, referring to the federal enforcement authorization. "It could be as long as two years before we even get that program in place. We do these type of big roundups all the time."

Biang said Tuesday that Waukegan -- along with Libertyville, Mundelein, the Lake County Sheriff's Office and other area police departments -- has 10 officers out looking for 96 known gang members with deportation warrants from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

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"So far we've picked up 55 across Lake County and about 21 in Waukegan alone," said Biang, who emphasized that the criminals are not exclusively illegal immigrants. "We're using ICE's assistance and authority to remove these gang members. Whether they are here legally or not, they are eligible for deportation."

ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro confirmed the initiative and said several similar operations, to arrest sex offenders or fugitives, for instance, have routinely been undertaken in Lake County.

Tensions boiled over last month in Waukegan, where the population is over 50 percent Hispanic, when community leaders protested the city council's decision to apply for training from ICE in order to facilitate deportation of convicted violent criminals. Mayor Richard Hyde entered into an agreement with local Hispanic organizations promising not to use the authority for traffic offenders or non-violent criminals.

"We don't do the big roundups everyday, but it shows that if we had the ability to work with the 287(g) process we wouldn't have to do these large roundups and there wouldn't be 96 offenders loose on the street," Biang said.

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