Federal Sweep Results in Arrests of 375 Gang Members
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1710015
Federal Sweep Results in Arrests of 375 Gang Members
Most Belong to MS-13, a Violent Gang That Started in Central America
By JASON RYAN
March 10, 2006 — - A coordinated gang enforcement operation by the FBI and an agency within the Department of Homeland Security has resulted in the arrest of 375 gang members in 23 states.
The arrested gang members included numerous individuals from the notoriously violent MS-13 gang, which has become a top concern of the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The two-week operation, overseen by Immigration and Customs, is part of an operation called Community Shield, which was launched in February 2005.
According to Immigration and Customs officials, more than 260 of the 375 gang members arrested in the past two weeks have criminal records for such crimes as firearms and drug violations.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, an agency in the Department of Homeland Security, is holding many of the gang members on immigration violations. Those who can be prosecuted are suspected of such crimes as murder, rape, assaults and weapons trafficking. Many of the gang members are foreign born, and are in the United States illegally.
Since Community Shield was set up last year, the Immigration and Customs, along with state and local law enforcement agencies, has arrested more than 2,300 suspected gang members, including 51 gang leaders and 922 members of MS-13.
MS-13 has an estimated 10,000 members nationwide who mostly come from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. MS-13 has expanded across the United States in the past decade. The gang gained prominence in Los Angeles in the late 1980s and has used extremely violent methods to gain territory.