Gang raids in Dallas net 105 arrests www.privateofficer.com
Dallas TX July 21 2010 Federal immigration officials said Monday that 105 people were arrested during a five-day operation that ended Saturday and targeted alleged gang members.
The operation was in conjunction with local and state law enforcement, including police in Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving and Carrollton.
Among those apprehended was a Salvadoran illegal immigrant in Carrollton wanted for a home invasion, said John Chakwin, special agent in charge of the Dallas office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Charges against those arrested included drive-by shootings, burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance, ICE officials said.
Four of those arrested in Fort Worth and Dallas were allegedly members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, one of the more violent gangs operating in the U.S. and Central America. But several belonged to smaller gangs in the Dallas area, such as How High Krew and Deuce Deuce Beckley, authorities said.
Chakwin said that about two-thirds of those arrested were gang members.
“I have never seen so many local gangs over the last four years that I have been here,” he said.
The arrests were made by a national gang unit coordinated by ICE, the largest agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
Though the operation was billed as targeting transnational gangs under “Operation Community Shield,” 42 people arrested are U.S. citizens, ICE officials said.
About a third of those arrested were in the U.S. illegally and charged with administrative violations of immigration law. The immigration status of others is still being investigated, ICE officials said.
Since ICE began its national gang unit, more than 17,500 gang members and associates have been arrested, ICE officials said Monday.
Source:Dallas News
