18 reputed gang members arrested

Friday, June 22, 2007

By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER


Federal immigration agents arrested 18 suspected gang members in Westwood, Hillsdale and Emerson on Wednesday, placing them in deportation proceedings.

Immigration officials said on Thursday that they "sensed" those arrested were involved in criminal activities.

The alleged members are illegal immigrants from the Mexican state of Puebla, said officials of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Newark.

ICE officials pressed administrative charges against the Mexicans for immigration violations. They are in jail in undisclosed locations pending an appearance before an immigration judge, ICE officials said. They could be deported in as few as two weeks, said Thomas Manifase, deputy special agent in charge for ICE in Newark.

Federal authorities said developing criminal cases against the 18 would have become too complex and time consuming.

"It can take a while to develop cases against these gang members – they're good at what they do," Manifase said. "Do we see them doing strong-arm robberies, no. But do we sense that they're doing criminal activities? Yes we do."

"We go after them for criminal activity, we determine they're out of status [illegal], and we use our immigration authority to arrest and remove these aliens," Manifase said. "It's something we want in all the counties in New Jersey."

The arrests capped a year- long investigation by ICE, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, the New Jersey Human Services Police and the police departments of Westwood, Emerson and Hillsdale.

"This is a quality-of-life type thing for Bergen County residents," Manifase said. "They work the streets together, this is a criminal organization. The biggest threat is street crimes. They will take advantage of situations that are presented to them."

Starting at about 5 a.m., agents arrested nine people in Emerson, six in Hillsdale and three in Westwood. ICE said those arrested ranged in age from 18 to 31, and allegedly were members or associates of Los Pitufos, Vatos Locos, La Tosos, Sureno 13 and the Mexican Latin Kings, which authorities described as transnational gangs. Such gangs were a virtual rarity in the Northeast until the 1990s.

Westwood Police Chief Frank Regino said he strongly supports cooperative efforts between immigration agents and local police when crimes are involved.

Regino said he does not condone the involvement of local police with immigration agents in cases that involve only a person's illegal status, which is not a crime, but a civil violation.

"That's their jurisdiction," he said of federal authorities.

Regino also stressed that the Mexican immigrant community, which has been growing in Westwood in recent years, is largely law-abiding and hardworking.

"It wouldn't be fair to them," he said, "to be associated to a handful that might be a criminal element."

E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com


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