By Photographee.eu @ Shutterstock.com
Originally posted on March 29, 2016.
Over 1,000 alleged gang-members were arrested in a five-week, nationwide sweep announced on Monday. Among the top targets of law enforcement was the brutal MS-13 gang, known for its unhinged violence. Hundreds of those arrested were not American. Of the presidential candidates, is anyone aside from Donald Trump talking about the threat these gangs pose to Americans’ daily lives?
The Daily Mail reports:
Over 1,000 people were arrested in a nationwide operation targeting members of transnational gangs, U.S. immigration officials announced Monday.
The five-week operation, which was led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division, concluded last Monday and netted 915 suspected gang members.
Most of the suspected gang members were affiliated with the gangs MS-13, Sureños, Norteños, Eighteenth Street and Bloods, ICE spokesperson Sarah Rodriguez told Daily Mail Online.
‘I would say this is on par with what we do in one of these gang surges,’ Rodriguez said.
‘We do gang enforcement all year round, but once or twice a year we do a surge, where officers drill down on gang leads that they have. It becomes the national focus for a couple of weeks,’ she said.
Of the 1,133 arrested, 894 were U.S. citizens.
The remaining suspects were citizens of China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Spain, Mexico, and other countries, Rodirguez said.
State, federal and local law enforcement agencies participated in the operation, which saw arrests across the country.
Most of the arrests were made in the Los Angeles, San Juan, Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, and El Paso areas, ICE officials wrote in a press release.
