Working for logical immigation reform based on a stable population, a recognition of the finite nature of our natural resources and the adverse impact of continued growth on our quality of life, standard of living, national interest, character, language, sovereignty and the rule of law. Pushing back and countering the disloyal elements in American society and the anti-American rhetoric of the leftwing illegal alien lobbies. In a debate, when your opponents turn to name calling, it's a good sign you've already won.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Criminal Street Gangs

Study: Immigration Law Enforcement Helps Check Criminal Street Gangs

WASHINGTON (October 1, 2008) – A new Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder finds that immigration law enforcement has been highly effective in fighting gang activity around the country. Local law enforcement agencies that shun involvement with immigration law enforcement are missing an opportunity to protect their communities, according to the authors. Since 2005, ICE has arrested more than 8,000 immigrant gangsters from more than 700 different gangs under an initiative known as Operation Community Shield.

The Backgrounder,'Taking Back the Streets: ICE and Local Law Enforcement Target Immigrant Gangs,' by Jessica M. Vaughan and Jon D. Feere, was funded by the Department of Justice and describes the unique public safety problems posed by immigrant gangs. The authors present previously unpublished statistics on gang arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), describe how immigration law enforcement authorities are used to combat gang activity, and offer policy recommendations to improve federal-local cooperation, and without damaging relations with immigrant communities.

The authors can provide statistics for 99 different cities upon request. The full report is available online at http://www.cis.org/ImmigrantGang . An introductory video has also been produced and is available online at http://www.cis.org/ImmigrantGangsVideo .

Among the findings:

# Transnational immigrant gangs have been spreading rapidly and sprouting in suburban and rural areas where communities are not always equipped to deal with them.

# A very large share of immigrant gang members are illegal aliens and removable aliens. Federal sources estimate that 60 to 90 percent of the members of MS-13, the most notorious immigrant gang, are illegal aliens. In one jurisdiction studied, Northern Virginia, 30 to 40 percent of the gang task force case load were removable aliens.

# MS-13 activity was found in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

# The immigrant gangsters arrested were a significant menace to the public. About 80 percent had committed serious crimes in addition to their immigration violations and 40 percent were violent criminals.

# The ICE offices logging the largest number of immigrant gang arrests were San Diego, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Dallas. Some cities with significant gang problems, such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Houston, had few arrests. These cities had sanctuary, or “don’t ask, don’t tell,” immigration policies in place over the time period studied.

# While many of the immigrant gangs targeted were neighborhood operations, others were ethnic-based, such as Armenian Power, Kurdish Pride, or Oriental Killer Boys. But nearly half of the aliens arrested over the period studied were affiliated with MS-13 and Surenos-13, two of the largest and most notorious transnational gangs with largely immigrant membership.

# Nearly 60 percent of immigrant gangsters arrested by ICE were Mexican citizens, 17 percent were Salvadoran, and 5 percent were Honduran. In all, 53 different countries were represented.

# Immigrant gang members rarely make a living as gangsters. They typically work by day in construction, auto repair, farming, landscaping and other low-skill occupations, often using false documents. Some gangs are involved in the production and sale of false documents.

# The research found no “chilling effect” on the reporting of crime as a result of local law enforcement partnerships with ICE. Instead of spreading this misconception, immigrant advocacy groups should help reinforce the message that crime victims and witnesses are not targets of immigration law enforcement.

# All gang task forces should include either an ICE agent or local officers with formal immigration law training, such as 287(g). Programs aimed solely at removing incarcerated aliens, while helpful, are not as effective in addressing gang activity as investigative programs.

# While immigration law enforcement is a federal responsibility, ICE cannot do the job effectively without assistance from state and local law enforcement, particularly when it comes to immigrant gangs.

# Failure to adequately control the U.S.-Mexico border and to deter illegal settlement in general undermines the progress ICE and local law enforcement agencies have made in disrupting criminal immigrant street gangs.

# # #

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is CIS really? It's a nativist, anti-immigrant group created by John Tanton (If you would like to see the other groups this nativist web is comprised of, visit: http://campaignforaunitedamerica.org/index.php?/about/updates/fair_map/) . It is a spin-off group of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which was recently designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). SPLC also put out a report on the intention behind Tanton’s anti-immigrant stance in a well-researched report called “The Tanton Files: FAIR Founder’s Racism Revealed,” which is available at http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2008/09/19/tanton-fair-founder-racism/. If this is the ideology behind groups like CIS, how unbiased of a report are they going to release?

ultima said...

From the L. A. Times


1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2
million people)are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is
because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without
a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are
illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal
alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal , whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are
Mexican nationals here illegally
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in
garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are
most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million
speak Spanish.
(There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . )

(All 10 of the above are from the Los Angeles Times)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are
on welfare. Over 70% of the United States ' annual population
growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York )results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

We are a bunch of fools for letting this continue

ultima said...

You raise a good question for which I have only the following answer. Judge CIS by its work rather than by its origin. Most of the articles coming out of CIS seem to be well-researched and well-documented so the sources are there for anyone to check who wishes to do so. The general media I believe to be far more biased than those who document their work rather than merely express an opinion. There may be a thread of racism running through some of the FAIR, Numbers USA and CIS activities and publications but I would distance myself from them if I thought that was the main thrust of their work. Congress has called on them from time to time for input and testimony. I doubt it would do that if these organizations were racist. The SPLC, of course, has its own biases. I saw a PBS program or video which portrayed its views but I see no reason to accept that point of view over that of the other organizations. There are many valid reasons for limiting our population which I have detailed many times. If NumbersUSA and CIS help advance that point of view, I support them despite their origins. I believe they have evolved and now represent the main stream point of view of informed observers. The data from an LA Times article, quoted above, seems to support the CIS point of view. I will try to locate the URL for the LA Times article and post it.