Kenneth Brown
Captain
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2003
- Messages
- 3,481
Re: Finally a politcian with some sense
And heres another reason they are dangerous to me PW-<br /><br /><br />Aug. 1, 2005, 11:34PM<br />Gang roundup includes Houston, South Texas<br />Federal agents nab 582 migrants across U.S.; most will be deported<br /><br />By EDWARD HEGSTROM<br />Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle<br /><br />Federal agents working with police departments across the country rounded up 582 immigrant street gang members in the last two weeks of July, including eight from Houston and South Texas.<br /><br />Some of those captured during the ongoing "Operation Community Shield" are expected to be charged with violent crimes. But the majority are illegal immigrants who will be prepared for deportation to Central America and Mexico.<br /><br />"For too long, these gangs have gone unchecked, flouting our laws and demonstrating a blatant disregard for public safety," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a news conference in Washington Monday.<br /><br /><br />More than 50 gangs<br /><br />The operation in late July targeted more than 50 gangs, including some with links to Asia and the Caribbean as well as Latin America. An earlier phase of the operation started in February and specifically targeted a Salvadoran street gang with roots in Los Angeles known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.<br /><br />"Some of these guys are committing horrible crimes back in Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras and then fleeing to the United States," said Luisa Deason, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Houston office.<br /><br /><br />Massacre suspect captured<br /><br />Those captured as part of the earlier phase of the operation included Lester Rivera Paz, a Honduran wanted in that country in connection with the massacre of 28 people on a bus last December. Honduran authorities believe the massacre was intended as a message by MS-13 members concerned about that country's crackdown on gangs.<br /><br />Rivera Paz escaped from a Honduran jail in January and was discovered in the trunk of a car in South Texas on Feb. 10. After serving a seven-month federal sentence for entering the country illegally, he will be deported to Honduras, Deason said. Chertoff and Deason noted that the federal anti-gang initiative depends on cooperation from local law enforcement. Locally, officers from the Houston Police Department share lists of presumed gang members with federal immigration agents, according to Deason. The immigration agents check those names to see if any are believed to be in the country illegally.<br /><br />ICE agents out of Houston arrested five presumed gang members at their homes July 26. None of them have been charged with a violent crime, and all are being held pending deportation.<br /><br />HPD spokesman Alvin Wright said cooperating on the anti-gang efforts does not violate the department's policy against enforcing immigration law, since the police officers are not the ones making the arrests.<br /><br />Wright said MS-13 and other gangs are a growing concern in Houston, but he said most of the violent crimes committed by these gangs target other gang members.<br /><br />Some Central American activists expressed concern that the operations appear to target presumed gang members instead of criminals.<br /><br />"If someone commits a crime be they a gang-member or not they should be punished," Teodoro Aguiluz, the head of the Central American Resource Center in southwest Houston, said in Spanish. "But (officials) should not assume that all Central American youths are gang members."<br /><br /><br />Councilman speaks out<br /><br />Of the 14 presumed gang members captured in Houston and South Texas since the operation began, three had been previously deported.<br /><br />Critics say deporting gang members worsens gang problems in poor Central American countries with inadequately trained police departments.<br /><br />"We are setting these countries up for failure," said Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia, who went to see the gang activity in Guatemala City when he headed HPD's anti-gang task force.<br /><br />But Garcia said he supports using deportation as a tool against gangs. He said the government needs to provide the Central American countries with increased aid, cooperation and intelligence-sharing so they can combat the gangs.
And heres another reason they are dangerous to me PW-<br /><br /><br />Aug. 1, 2005, 11:34PM<br />Gang roundup includes Houston, South Texas<br />Federal agents nab 582 migrants across U.S.; most will be deported<br /><br />By EDWARD HEGSTROM<br />Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle<br /><br />Federal agents working with police departments across the country rounded up 582 immigrant street gang members in the last two weeks of July, including eight from Houston and South Texas.<br /><br />Some of those captured during the ongoing "Operation Community Shield" are expected to be charged with violent crimes. But the majority are illegal immigrants who will be prepared for deportation to Central America and Mexico.<br /><br />"For too long, these gangs have gone unchecked, flouting our laws and demonstrating a blatant disregard for public safety," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a news conference in Washington Monday.<br /><br /><br />More than 50 gangs<br /><br />The operation in late July targeted more than 50 gangs, including some with links to Asia and the Caribbean as well as Latin America. An earlier phase of the operation started in February and specifically targeted a Salvadoran street gang with roots in Los Angeles known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.<br /><br />"Some of these guys are committing horrible crimes back in Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras and then fleeing to the United States," said Luisa Deason, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Houston office.<br /><br /><br />Massacre suspect captured<br /><br />Those captured as part of the earlier phase of the operation included Lester Rivera Paz, a Honduran wanted in that country in connection with the massacre of 28 people on a bus last December. Honduran authorities believe the massacre was intended as a message by MS-13 members concerned about that country's crackdown on gangs.<br /><br />Rivera Paz escaped from a Honduran jail in January and was discovered in the trunk of a car in South Texas on Feb. 10. After serving a seven-month federal sentence for entering the country illegally, he will be deported to Honduras, Deason said. Chertoff and Deason noted that the federal anti-gang initiative depends on cooperation from local law enforcement. Locally, officers from the Houston Police Department share lists of presumed gang members with federal immigration agents, according to Deason. The immigration agents check those names to see if any are believed to be in the country illegally.<br /><br />ICE agents out of Houston arrested five presumed gang members at their homes July 26. None of them have been charged with a violent crime, and all are being held pending deportation.<br /><br />HPD spokesman Alvin Wright said cooperating on the anti-gang efforts does not violate the department's policy against enforcing immigration law, since the police officers are not the ones making the arrests.<br /><br />Wright said MS-13 and other gangs are a growing concern in Houston, but he said most of the violent crimes committed by these gangs target other gang members.<br /><br />Some Central American activists expressed concern that the operations appear to target presumed gang members instead of criminals.<br /><br />"If someone commits a crime be they a gang-member or not they should be punished," Teodoro Aguiluz, the head of the Central American Resource Center in southwest Houston, said in Spanish. "But (officials) should not assume that all Central American youths are gang members."<br /><br /><br />Councilman speaks out<br /><br />Of the 14 presumed gang members captured in Houston and South Texas since the operation began, three had been previously deported.<br /><br />Critics say deporting gang members worsens gang problems in poor Central American countries with inadequately trained police departments.<br /><br />"We are setting these countries up for failure," said Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia, who went to see the gang activity in Guatemala City when he headed HPD's anti-gang task force.<br /><br />But Garcia said he supports using deportation as a tool against gangs. He said the government needs to provide the Central American countries with increased aid, cooperation and intelligence-sharing so they can combat the gangs.