Local police team with federal agents to remove gang members

Feb 10, 2008

By Lewis Rutherfurd

On the night of Jan. 26, two Half Moon Bay men were arrested by officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and whisked into a federal detention facility out of the area.

The men, Miguel Guerrero-Moran, 20 and Sergio Garcia, 19, were not wanted on any criminal charges at the time, have never been in custody at the San Mateo County jail, or been prosecuted in San Mateo County Superior Court, according to officials from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and the district attorney's office.

But Half Moon Bay Police say they are known gang members and illegal immigrants and that citizens are better off now that they are off the streets.

The arrests were part of an ongoing ICE program known as "Operation Community Shield" that aims to aid local law enforcement in removing gang members who are in this country illegally.

"Agents from ICE came out and contacted our officers on duty," explained Half Moon Bay Police Capt. Michael O'Malley. "They asked if we knew of possible gang members in the area who might be illegal." Officers on shift had some people in mind and went with the agents to make contact, he added.

One man, Guerrero-Moran, was at home when officers arrived and was taken into custody without incident. Garcia was out when officers arrived, but residents were asked to tell him to come to the Half Moon Bay Police station and talk to agents, O'Malley said. When the man arrived at the station within the hour, he was taken into custody.

Both men admitted to ICE agents that they were in the country illegally, O'Malley said. They had been previously identified as Sureño gang members and admitted the association again to the federal authorities, O'Malley added.

"They've been contacted before and they've been documented," said O'Malley of their gang status. He noted the nature of past crimes attributed to the men - Guerrero-Moran has been cited for possession of marijuana and Garcia was charged but never prosecuted for obstruction of a police officer. Police Chief Don O'Keefe said that Garcia has a longer rap sheet that includes assault with a deadly weapon. Those charges may have been committed elsewhere or as a juvenile. The Review was unable to confirm those charges.

O'Malley said tattoos and known criminal associations were some indicators of gang activity that Guerrero-Moran and Garcia engaged in. "There's all kinds of variables as to why people would be documented as a gang member," he added.

While some cities in the region, including Berkeley and San Francisco, are considered "sanctuary cities," where local law enforcement will not cooperate with ICE agents, law enforcement officers in Half Moon Bay and San Mateo County say they will help federal agents if called upon to do so.

"Right now, unless it's a very serious crime, they do not even go after them," said O'Malley, explaining that local officers largely ignore immigration status. But, "if the federal government comes in - we're not going to say we're not going to even help you," he added.

"It's a lot different from when I used to work down in Delano," said O'Malley of a previous law enforcement job 25 years ago. "Then, you would put an instant immigration hold on someone who wasn't documented."

ICE was established in 2003 and is the main immigration investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Half Moon Bay men were detained as part of Operation Community Shield, said Lori Haley, an ICE spokeswoman.

"(It's an) ongoing operation, where ICE is in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies to remove known gang members," said ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley.

Roundups associated with the operation come in waves. The last major push in the region took place in September in Salinas, and was conducted in cooperation with several local agencies. In that five-day period, 26 foreign nationals were arrested, according to an ICE release. The agency said 1,300 "gang members, gang associates and illegal aliens," were detained nationwide in the two preceding months, and 7,500 have been detained since 2005.

"Violent foreign-born gang members and their associates have more than worn out their welcome," said Julie L. Meyers, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for ICE in the release. "And to them I have one message: good riddance."

Garcia and Guerrero-Moran are barely noted in county records.

Garcia's name comes up once in the county system - for an Aug. 7 arrest on charges of obstructing a police officer, said Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. "The facts did not warrant the filing of a charge," he added. Guerrero-Moran has no record in the county. His marijuana possession would normally be handled as a citation, said Wagstaffe.

San Mateo County Sheriff's spokesman Mark Alcantara said neither man has ever been in the county jail, and that they were not currently in custody. Juvenile records for the two, if any exist, cannot be disclosed, he added.

The presence of ICE agents in the county has led to concerns in the past.

Wagstaffe had no knowledge of the Half Moon Bay detentions and did not know where the men were being held. He noted that ICE was often a secretive presence in the county, and said that conflicts had arisen when agents observing trials, or operating in local jails, whisked away suspected illegal immigrants.

"Our public defenders have not always been happy about that," he said. "We've occasionally had an issue where we've lost a witness in a trial that way."

San Mateo County Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson noted some of those concerns in a 2007 opinion piece - following a series of well-publicized raids. "Local law enforcement depends on community support to enforce the law," Gibson wrote. "If someone witnesses a stranger breaking into a neighbor's home, we as a community are not well-served if neighbors are afraid to report the break-in because they themselves could become the target of police based on how they look or the way they sound." She called for more open cooperation with local agencies, and notes her support for ICE and its general mission. Messages left for Gibson were not returned in time for this story.

Officials would not say exactly where Garcia and Guerrero-Moran are now, and would release no further information on their legal status or the number of ICE officers involved in area operations.

"Typically they go into ICE detention centers and are processed for removal," said Haley. "But everyone has due process. We believe they are in the country illegally."

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