What Do You Think 158 Illegal Immigrants Arrested in Utah’s Biggest Gang Crackdown?
Question by THE GREATEST GODDESS JILL: What do you think 158 illegal immigrants arrested in Utah’s biggest gang crackdown?
SALT LAKE CITY – 158 have been arrested in a four-month operation targeting illegal immigrants with suspected gang ties. “Operation Community Shield,” a joint federal-local operation, is believed to be the largest of its kind ever in Utah.
Police targeted illegal immigrants suspected of committing drug and violent crimes. Some have been deported from the United States before, only to re-enter the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said.
“This particular operation has been exceptionally successful,” said Carlie Christensen, the acting U.S. Attorney for Utah. “I think that’s evidenced by the number of arrests, the number of jurisdictions, communities that participated and the broad geographic area that’s encompassed.”
Those arrested have ties to gangs, police said. In some cases, ICE agents said they dealt a significant blow to the gang’s hierarchy by arresting their leaders.
“We’ve taken quite a few clique leaders,” said Jonathan Lines, an ICE agent. “Anytime you take a clique leader off the street, someone who’s calling the shots, anytime you can take that type of individual out of play you can disrupt and dismantle the gang.”
Because of resource issues, federal immigration authorities have chosen to focus on violent offenders. They partnered with police officers in 23 cities including Logan, St. George, Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, Ogden, Midvale, Delta and Wendover.
Of the 158 arrested, federal prosecutors said 93 will face some type of federal or state charge. If convicted, authorities said they would do prison time before being deported.
Christensen acknowledged to Fox 13 the coincidental timing of the arrests, especially as the immigration debate reaches a fever pitch in Utah and Arizona.
“We have people in our community ask that question all the time, with what’s going on in Arizona, ‘Are they coming over into Utah?’ ” St. George Police Chief Marlon Stratton told Fox 13. “We don’t have any indication that’s the case, but we’ll see.”
http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-gang-crackdown-158-arrested,0,739498.story
Best answer:
Answer by Uncle Rico
Yikes.
Answer by Vickilynn
THis is why we need to close our borders, using whatever force necessary to maintain a secure border. Deport illegals (illegal = criminal)
Now only 30 million left, I say we should just be able to open fire.
WASHINGTON — Nearly a third of criminal immigrants removed from the U.S. last year had committed crimes involving “dangerous drugs,” statistics released by the Homeland Security Department show.
Dangerous drug crimes include manufacturing, distribution, sale and possession of illegal drugs, the department said. Of the 128,345 criminal immigrants removed from the country, 37,993, or 29.6 percent, were deported for dangerous drugs, according to the department.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Richard Rocha said immigrants who are counted as criminals have been convicted of crimes or have a record of a conviction for a crime. But immigration advocates are skeptical of the definition because ICE enforcement includes detaining people before they’ve been convicted, its definition of crimes includes misdemeanors and minor traffic offenses and its definition of a criminal immigrant has been inconsistent, said Michele Waslin, a senior policy analyst at the Immigration Policy Center.
Immigrants with traffic offenses ranked second, with 20,367, or about 16 percent, removed for those violations. Immigration violations such as entering the country illegally, immigrant smuggling and false claims to citizenship were a close third at 15.4 percent or 19,807.