Immigration Gang Sweep Results in Hundreds of Arrests

[catzmeow]

Immigration gang sweep results in hundreds of arrests - News - The Orange County Register

Project Nefarious launched February 2012, targeting transnational gangs involved with human smuggling and trafficking organizations. After months of gathering intelligence, the enforcement operations began April 9 and culminated on Saturday, ICE officials reported.

"The goal of Project Nefarious was to identify, locate, arrest, prosecute and remove gang members and associates affiliated with human smuggling and trafficking organizations," ICE Homeland Security Investigations Executive Associate Director James Dinkins said in a written statement. "By ridding our streets of 637 gang members and associates, we are putting a dent in the violence, these transnational criminal street gangs bring to our communities."

Good news.

 

[Duped]

Just 20, million more to go!

 

[Angelhair]

Good to know! Hope they continue these raids to get rid of the scum.

 

[GHook93]

Just 20, million more to go!

Do not demean it! This is a good thing and people should be applauding this effort!

 

[waltky]

Mexican drug cartels now control human trafficking...

ICE Official: Mexican Drug Cartels Now ‘Dictating’ Flow of Human Smuggling into U.S.
May 22, 2012 -- “Gatekeepers” linked to Mexican drug cartels “are dictating when and where” alien smugglers are allowed to cross the southwest border into the U.S. territory, a federal immigration enforcement agent told House lawmakers at a hearing Monday held in Arizona.

The official, Matthew Allen of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), added that when human smugglers wishing to cross into the U.S. disregard “warnings” from drug cartels, they can be targets of violence including murder.

Allen, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for ICE in Phoenix, provided both verbal and written testimony during a field hearing in Arizona hosted by the House Homeland Security Committee’ subcommittee on border and maritime security. “Arizona is bordered by the State of Sonora to our south and the Sinaloa Cartel is the dominant criminal element in the State of Sonora. The border areas in Mexico that adjoin the United States are divided by the Sinaloa Cartel into ‘Plazas’ that are supervised by ‘Plaza Bosses’ or ‘Gatekeepers,” Allen told lawmakers. “These plaza bosses and gatekeepers are responsible for overseeing and coordinating smuggling activities in a given geographic area and collecting taxes and fees from anyone wishing to smuggle contraband, including human smuggling organizations,” he added.

In his written testimony, Allen said that drug cartels do dictate the flow of human smuggling from Mexico into the U.S. – but that those who smuggle aliens into the U.S. are distinct from the cartels themselves. “We are often asked whether human smuggling organizations are part of the ‘cartels.’ Based on HSI investigations and intelligence, it is our opinion that while alien smugglers pay taxes and fees to the cartels to smuggle in a specific geographic area, they are generally run as distinct criminal enterprises in both Mexico and the United States,” stated Allen. “We believe that the plaza bosses and gatekeepers play a coordinating role with alien smugglers, dictating when and where they will be allowed to cross the border,” Allen testified.

Allen said this coordination “ensures that alien smugglers and their human cargo do not bring unwanted law enforcement attention” to their smuggling efforts. He added: “Our investigations have shown that when alien smugglers do not heed warnings from drug smuggling organizations about where and when they smuggle, they can be targeted for physical violence, including murder.” ICE is a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The field hearing was titled, “Stopping the Flow of Illicit Drugs in Arizona by Leveraging State, Local and Federal Information Sharing.”

In his written testimony, Allen also said that in Arizona ICE is focusing its efforts on targeting human smuggling through its Illicit Pathways Attack Strategy (IPAS). “We focused our first IPAS on high-risk human smuggling in the Western Hemisphere to identify and target human smuggling organizations and their pathways across the globe,” he stated. Smuggling in illegal aliens is frequently tied to sex trafficking and forced labor, the ICE official said. “We initially targeted human smuggling as this is often a precursor crime that can lead to other illegal activities, including human trafficking. People may have illegally entered the United States only to find themselves in exploitative circumstances and vulnerable to being used by force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of commercial sex or forced labor,” he added.

Allen noted that “transnational gangs” have their hands in smuggling humans into the U.S. “Transnational gangs often conspire with other dangerous criminal organizations, which allow them to mature from small autonomous criminal groups into larger, international criminal enterprises engaged in human smuggling and trafficking, narcotics smuggling and distribution, money laundering, weapons smuggling and arms trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, and export violations,” stated Allen in his written testimony.

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[dilloduck]

If we would just legalize pot everything would be hunky dory.

NOT

 

[Katzndogz]

If we just removed the border, no one would have to be smuggled in. Legalize drugs, erase the concept of border and the cartels will go out of business.

That's the liberal idea. The cartels are not stupid, they are diversifying. They are creating alternative streams of commerce.

The liberals are just stupid in thinking they can legalize enough crimes to end criminal activity.

 

[Sunni Man]

The liberals are just stupid in thinking they can legalize enough crimes to end criminal activity.

Liberals/progressives have never been accused of being overly bright.

OWS protesters were evidence to this fact.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Its all a show to fool you into thinking that Govt is actually doing their job.

If the Govt really wanted the Illegals out they would go after the Employers. But they won't, only a few workers at a time.

 

[ShootSpeeders]

I don't believe a word of this. Obozo told us last summer he was gonna stop deportations.!!! Hell - he refused to even deport his uncle who was convicted of drunk driving a couple months back. A dangerous criminal illegal but obozo did nothing to him and the press ignored the story.