http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs...511190319/1005

Men robbed, assaulted day laborers in Butler, Bloomingdale, they say

BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD

Ten reputed members of the Mexican gang Sureno 13 -- suspected of robbing and assaulting day laborers and immigrants -- were arrested in early morning raids at four residences in Butler and Bloomingdale, authorities said on Friday.

The men, mostly in their 20s and some related to each other, were brought to the Hudson County Jail following the raids between 5 and 7 a.m. Thursday, authorities said. None had proof of being in the United States legally, and they are being held on immigration violations and face deportation to Mexico, said Thomas Manifase, acting special agent in charge of the Newark office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Authorities launched an investigation after getting tips that the men allegedly were street gang members who were brutalizing immigrants who were not likely to report a crime because of their own perhaps-illegal status. Federal agents --working with police in Butler, Bloomingdale, and representatives of the Morris and Passaic county prosecutors' and sheriffs' offices -- descended on four homes on Thursday and arrested 10 men without incident or violence, Manifase said.

Two raided homes were on Main Street in Bloomingdale and two were on Keil Avenue in Butler, he said.

Manifase said the men are entitled to immigration hearings to try to fight deportation but would not be released before then.