Immigrant Workers Caught in Net Cast for Gangs

By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: November 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com



GREENPORT, N.Y. — It was still dark the morning of Sept. 27 when armed federal immigration agents, guided by local police officers, swept into this village on the East End of Long Island. Within hours, as the team rousted sleeping families, 11 men were added to a running government tally of arrests made in Operation Community Shield, a two-year-old national program singling out violent gang members for deportation.

Violent foreign-born gang members and their associates have more than worn out their welcome,â€