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Wednesday, August 3, 2005

Local anti-gang effort nets 25 arrests

By Eric J.S. Townsend
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO -- Federal and local authorities arrested more than two dozen people throughout the Triad during the past two weeks as part of an ongoing effort to deport illegal immigrants with gang ties.

Ten people in Guilford County and another 10 in Forsyth County were detained, as were five people in Lee County, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

North Carolina led the nation during Operation Community Shield with 77 arrests between the Triad, Triangle and Charlotte regions. About 600 people, almost all living in the United States illegally, were rounded up nationwide.

The Triad's 25 alleged gang members are comparable to numbers from Los Angeles and New York. Many were released on their own recognizance pending deportation hearings.

Immigration agents worked with the Guilford County Sheriff's Office and Winston-Salem police to identify gang members. If suspects could not provide proof of residency, they were taken into custody.

Not all North Carolina suspects face deportation. Authorities released a few teenagers because they were under the age of 16, an immigration official said, despite tattoos or clothing that identified their gang affiliations.

"Some of these younger kids are the most dangerous ones out there," said Thomas O'Connell, resident agent in charge of the immigration agency's Raleigh bureau. "A lot of time there's little parental recognition that they even belong to a gang."

Community Shield launched earlier this year in six cities experiencing problems with the Hispanic street gang Mara Salvaltrucha, or MS-13.
The program expanded in May to combat all major street gangs.

O'Connel said many suspects were believed to be part of the Sure?os, or Sur-13. Guilford County sheriff's officials said the gang is involved in property crimes and graffiti "tagging".