Thread: Gangs braced by struggles of young illegal immigrants

Gangs braced by struggles of young illegal immigrants

Howard Goodman
Palm Beach columnist
April 1, 2007



TALLAHASSEE – Seven people had just been shot in Lake Worth, three of them shot dead. So I asked state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, whose district includes Lake Worth, about our gang problem.

She immediately walked over to her desk and picked up a page from Sun-Sentinel.com with the headline: "Battered sailboat carrying 101 Haitian migrants lands on South Broward beach."

"I think a lot of the problem might be here," the liberal Democrat said.

Now, I have plenty of respect for the thousands of people who escape desperate poverty in their homelands and brave awful hardships to get here, work hard, send kids to school and quietly obey our laws, even if they had to break the immigration laws to get here.

I understand that our economy has come to depend on their low-wage labor. I've seen how a hard-line stance on illegal immigration is often a despicable code for racist or anti-Hispanic prejudice.

But it's time to own up. It's become clear that our porous borders and our casual acceptance of illegal immigration have contributed to a rising tide of gunfire, drug dealing and gang life.

We've got a lot of young men winding up in our midst without educations or job skills or an understanding of how to fit into American society.

Some of them are turning to gangs for identity.

Undocumented immigrants "aren't the whole gang problem," said Special Agent Ed DeVelasco, a gang expert with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, "but they're a part of it."

"A good percentage" of gang members arrested in Lake Worth are here illegally, says Lt. Dave Matthews, of the Lake Worth Police Department.

The shooters in Tuesday night's Lake Worth killings haven't been identified, so it's unknown whether those killers were born citizens or documented immigrants, or not.

And Brandenburg wasn't implying that any of the particular 100 individuals who washed ashore from Haiti last week are destined to become gang-bangers.

Her point, and it's a good one, was that South Florida's population includes a large -- seemingly growing -- number of young people from impoverished backgrounds who don't have the skills to succeed in school. If you can't read by the third grade, she said, the chances are good you will drop out of school as a teenager. For many such kids, the street is the logical next step.

In fact, education is so important that we use third-grade reading scores to predict the future prison population.

Some of the most violent gangs operating in our area define themselves along national lines.

Top 6, whose members were targeted in Tuesday's bloodbath in Lake Worth, is largely Haitian.

MS-13, a mega-gang with a lot of subgroups, began in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador before spreading to Los Angeles, then to Fairfax, Va., and on to Florida.

In the past couple of years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 4,000 violent gang members nationwide. They're prosecuted, deported or both.

Last year, state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, got money for the Department of Juvenile Justice to track, for the first time, the citizenship status of juveniles convicted of serious crimes. So far, the effort has identified 306 youths in secure detention whose illegal status has been noted elsewhere in the justice system.

But the feds aren't doing much with the information, Aronberg said.

"Unless it's an egregious felony, the feds won't come and pick up a juvenile," said Jason Welty, the juvenile justice department's legislative liaison.

In any case, deportations are only so useful.

"The way our borders are, you can deport somebody and have them come back two days later," DeVelasco said.

This is not good.

"The border has to be dealt with in some way because of the drugs coming in, and maybe someday WMD," DeVelasco said.

The rising gang violence in Palm Beach County suggests another reason why.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/column ... 911.column

Truly a shame.

What these pro illegals can't seem to comprehend is that we are against ALL illegals that are out to destroy America.

understand that our economy has come to depend on their low-wage labor. I've seen how a hard-line stance on illegal immigration is often a despicable code for racist or anti-Hispanic prejudice.

I do not agree with this statement. People who want their laws enforced are not racist! This is about law and order. If you come here illegally, you better behave because your going to get deported one way or another.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about their rights. What about LAW ABIDING Americans. They deserve to have a country that is safe and it's citizens respected. Enough of the criminal pandering!

Originally Posted by CCUSA

understand that our economy has come to depend on their low-wage labor. I've seen how a hard-line stance on illegal immigration is often a despicable code for racist or anti-Hispanic prejudice.

I do not agree with this statement. People who want their laws enforced are not racist! This is about law and order. If you come here illegally, you better behave because your going to get deported one way or another.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about their rights. What about LAW ABIDING Americans. They deserve to have a country that is safe and it's citizens respected. Enough of the criminal pandering!

Amen to that!!!!