Almost 2,000 Illegal Immigrants Arrested in California in 2008
By admin at 27 January, 2009, 5:35 pm
In the Los Angeles area, federal officials arrested almost 2,000 illegal immigrants with gang ties in 2008, prosecuting more than 850 on state or federal charges.
The arrests were part of an anti-gang operation by U.S. Immigration and Customization Enforcement (ICE) known as Operation Community Shield.
“Using criminal prosecutions and deportations, we’re taking dangerous gang members off the street and disrupting the cycle of gang violence,” said ICE’s Brian DeMore. “In cases where gang members are in the United States illegally, we not only remove them from the community, we seek to remove them from the country.”
ICE says the rise in arrests last year was a combination of better screening of immigration status of those already incarcerated and the cooperation of federal and local law enforcement agencies.
The agency says Operation Community Shield has been in operation since 2005 and has been responsible for the arrest of more than 11,850 gang members throughout the country.
Last week it was announced that ICE had arrested two California men for their involvement in plans to ship sensitive electronic equipment to China.
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