ICE Raids Target Notorious MS-13 Gang Members

POSTED: 12:08 pm PDT October 22, 2008
UPDATED: 12:46 pm PDT October 22, 2008


RICHMOND, Calif. -- Federal immigration agents assisted by a Richmond police SWAT team launched one of several raids in the Bay Area early Wednesday, targeting members of the notorious MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, street gang, authorities have confirmed.

Sources have told KTVU that federal agents began a series of early morning raids armed with at least 26 search warrants, many for locations within San Francisco.

Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan said a Richmond police SWAT team assisted ICE agents with activity in the San Pablo area. He said the assistance was related to a major investigation into MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, a notorious street gang.

Federal authorities said further details of the raids would be released at a Thursday news conference. All Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice would confirm was that several raids had been executed.

"We're out executing search and arrest warrants related to this case," Kice said.

She added that more than half a dozen federal, state and local agencies were involved in Wednesday’s raids. . Kice said gang-related ICE investigations generally fall under the umbrella of Operation Community Shield, an "overarching initiative" aimed at combating gang activity.

A description of Operation Community Shield posted on ICE's Web site states that the operation initially focused on MS-13 but expanded in May 2005 to include all transnational criminal street and prison gangs.

MS-13 is a Los Angeles-based Hispanic gang that has operations throughout the United States and in Central America. It is composed of many loosely-connected gangs or factions of the same name, known as "cliques."

Members are mostly of Salvadoran, Hondurans, Guatemalans or Nicaraguans descent. Their activities have caught the eye of the FBI, who in September 2005 initiated wide-scale raids against suspected gang members, netting 660 arrests across the country.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/17780601/detail.html