Thread: US: Gangsters without borders

US: Gangsters without borders
2007-11-28

The deportation of illegal immigrants involved in criminal gangs, such as the pervasive Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang, is not working, and despite the efforts of nationwide sting operations in the US, most of these criminals find their way back across the border with relative ease, having earned themselves a free visit home to take care of unfinished business.

Weeks ahead of the first round of presidential primaries in the United States, for what are already hotly-contested campaigns, immigration remains a top domestic issue. Policies to manage America’s illegal immigrant community range from absorbing members of this growing community through an amnesty to stopping them at the border with virtual fences and armed soldiers. Across this spectrum, however, there is not one candidate that has focused on an important element of the national immigration debate: street gangs.

For over two decades, street gangs in the United States have been a challenge to local law enforcement agencies as many members of well known gangs, such as the Bloods and the Crips, are US citizens. When gang members are not US citizens but illegal immigrants that form part of a transnational criminal network, the problem is significantly complicated. These gangs tend to reside within the sanctuary of immigrant communities, where normally hardworking men and women are subjected to the levels of violence they thought they had left behind in their home countries.

The Mara Salvatrucha street gang (MS-13) formed in the 1980s in Los Angeles, where a growing El Salvadorian immigrant community was forced to band together to protect itself - an ironic reality given that they fled their war-torn country where Washington supported a proxy war to contain the growth of communism in Central America.

Over time, the founding members of the MS-13 joined the Mexican Mafia prison gang network affiliated with a loosely connected group of gangs that call themselves Sureños. In the early days of its existence, the Mara Salvatrucha agreed to become an enforcement arm for the Mexican Mafia, carrying out some of the dirty work leaders the Mexican Mafia needed to maintain their network's preeminence.

Over time, however, the Mara Salvatrucha expanded its presence to at least 33 US states with some 10,000 members spread across hundreds of US cities and towns.

Criminal conveyor belt

Due to its violent nature, the MS-13 is a top law enforcement target for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which has worked closely with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to organize and implement nationwide sting operations.

These operations combine national-level investigations of violent crime with a nationwide database of illegal immigrants. It is a cooperative agreement that has seen some success but raises questions concerning the effectiveness of deportation as a central policy in containing transnational organized crime in the US.

In early October, authorities announced the conclusion of a four-month, nationwide gang member sweep that netted some 1,300 suspects in 23 cities. New York, Miami and Dallas had the highest number of arrests, but other cities such as Raleigh, North Carolina, and Boise, Idaho were also on the list, with 93 and 34 arrests, respectively.

Some members were charged with assault, kidnapping and human trafficking. The vast majority, however, were charged with immigration violations. Of the 1,300 arrested, 939 will be deported back to their home countries, such as Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras.

But the problem does not stop at deportation. The nature of illegal immigration dictates that many of these deported gang members will return to the US within a relatively short time. Some manage to return within a week, others in less time. And yet others lie about their country of origin, telling ICE agents they are Mexican, for instance, so they will be deported to an airport that lies roughly at the halfway point between their home country and the US-Mexican border.

This process has been described as a “conveyer beltâ€

This tells me that our laws for illegal aliens is not stiff enough. If these criminals knew they would face 20 years in prison without parole, it might make a difference. And this is exactly why crossing our border illegally should be a felony.

Wake up, Bush! Get your head out!

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