http://cbs11tv.com/local/local_story_069150927.html

Gang Roundup Nets 44 In Dallas, 375 Nationwide

(CBS 11 News) Dallas led the pack in the number of gang member arrested during Operation Community Shield, a partnership with the Dallas Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Overall, the two-week initiative netted 375 gang members and associates in 23 states law enforcement agencies announced in simultaneous news conferences in Dallas and Washington, D.C.

Officials said Operation Community Shield represents the first time the federal government has used immigration and customs authorities in a combined, national campaign against criminal street gangs in the United States.

During the past year, ICE has conducted several targeted “enforcement actions” under Operation Community Shield. In total, these efforts have resulted in the arrest of 2,388 members of 239 different gangs and the seizure of 117 firearms, officials said.

In the latest enforcement action that began on Feb. 24, ICE teamed up with its law enforcement agencies in Dallas, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Miami and Raleigh, N.C.

Forty-one gang members were arrested in San Diego; 22 in Washington, D.C. and Miami and 19 in Raleigh, N.C.

More than 260 of the 375 individuals arrested in the latest action have past criminal records, most of them violent, authorities said.

ICE agents arrested 73 of the individuals on new criminal charges ranging from drug and firearms violations to charges of re-entering the country after deportation. The rest have been accused of administrative immigration violations and placed into deportation proceedings.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is comprised of four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

(CBS 11 News)