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Stumble29 arrested in Las Vegas, Mesquite gang sweep
Friday, Aug. 7, 2009 | 3 p.m.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said 29 arrests were made this week in Las Vegas and Mesquite for gang activity.
The arrests were conducted over a three-day period and netted gang members and gang associates, authorities said.
Two of the gang members were arrested during a sweep that began early Tuesday and are facing federal criminal prosecution for re-entry into the United States after deportation. The others are foreign nationals who are being processed for deportation.
The group taken into custody includes a Salvadoran national with ties to the notorious MS-13 gang, a citizen of Afghanistan and a citizen of the Bahamas. The others are citizens of Mexico.
Joining ICE in the operation were officers from Metro Police, Mesquite Police, the Nevada Department of Public Safety, the Division of Parole and Probation and Division of Investigation.
The arrests were made as part of an ongoing initiative by ICE's National Gang Unit called "Operation Community Shield." As part of the initiative, ICE partners with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the country to target public safety threats posed by transnational street gangs.
"Street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to communities throughout this area," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations that oversees the agency's activities in the Las Vegas area. "The violence and crime associated with these gangs has reached intolerable levels. ICE is working with its law enforcement partners here, and across the country, to attack and dismantle these criminal organizations."
The foreign national gang members and gang associates who were arrested on administrative immigration violations have been placed in removal proceedings. They are being held in ICE custody and scheduled for deportation hearings before an immigration judge.
Most of the individuals arrested during the sweep have criminal histories, including prior convictions for drug trafficking, weapons possession, kidnapping with a deadly weapon, home invasion, battery with a deadly weapon, coercing children with intent to engage in sexual conduct, grand larceny and theft.
Luis Morales-Villapuda, 38, a Mexican national previously convicted of drug trafficking, has been criminally charged with re-entering the United States after deportation, a federal crime that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Since Operation Community Shield began in February 2005, ICE agents nationwide have arrested more than 14,000 gang members and associates linked to more than 900 different gangs.
To report suspicious activity, call ICE's 24-hour toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423, or visit www.ice.gov.
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I LOVE Operation Community Shield!!
Great job!
More please! All undocumented must go.
Why deport them? So they can go back train others to return and continue the legacy. How about a firing squad? These are not innocent people looking for work, they are here for criminal activity.
Only 14000!! Geeze we have that many in Yakima Washington alone. OK, it's a start but it's almost laughable cosidering the gang activity I read about in the countries newspapers, 14,000 since 2005 WTF!!!
Congrats to ICE! This is very, very good.
Good Program, those history channel shows on MS13 scare the bejeezus out of me. They scare me just a little bit more than chooch's mentality. A firing squad? I bet your a christian too.
Now this is a government program that is working and needs to have its revenue increased. Great job! Send all illegals back as soon as possible. Lets start with the gangbangers and then move to any and all illegals. This is a great start now lets increase it!!
Thanks ICE. Illegals are the most harmful development to the USA since I've been alive. Deport them all and their children.
good.
do this stuff BEFORE you start doing "seatbelt enforcement days".
I keep getting ridiculed by the liberal/leftwingers for sounding a constant alarm about illegal aliens, and poof! a story like this makes the top of the news, in Nevada, no less!
Great job, ICE people!
Wow, finally, AWESOME!! Everyday...24/7, don't stop!! Gangs, guns, right wing nut jobs....leave strippers alone and go after the violent thugs like gangstas.
Good job cops send em back! Leave the hookers and strippers alone and get rid of these Illegal creeps!
I was reading recently that the French government fears their own people, but the American people fear the police more than their government.
I wish the illegals in this country would start fearing the cops and go the f--k home!
What ever happened to "build the wall?" Do we have to wait until the next presidential election before anybody talks about that again? Until the wall runs all the way from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, people are going to keep sneaking in.
Why don't you stake out the Star Nurserys parking lots those guys sell drugs,herion,and pot there,along with working witout Visa's.They stand on the corner and they will sell inside the local 7 eleven or you will see them run up to a car,noone gets in but I've seen them put money in their pocket after walking away.I would never hire those guys,taking work from the people who live here.
29 - thats all - seems you can find that many just cruising the city streets. but thanks for that, its so needed. save our communities and rid us of all illegals - once they come without proper documentation they break our laws every day they are here. just read the papers - seems that 70% of violent crimes (not to mention DUI's) are connected to illegals.
I find it very curious that this site and others will show pictures of hooker stings, but won't show these pictures, and others they are looking for! Maybe it would send the illegals back to their country, rather than getting caught; or maybe a concerned consumer will see them and turn them in!
I can't believe we just send them back so they can just climb the fence again and get back into the country.
we should be chopping off their hands before we send them back, that way they won't be able to climb the fence and come back over.
Gas the prisons so we have more room for all these sleazebags.
Not sure if this would help, but there is a toll free number to call ICE and report immigration violations--assuming our government considers crossing the border illegally a violation. Toll free: 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.
Where is Nancy Pelosi expressing her outrage that I.C.E. Agents are enforcing the LAW?
29 just sounds like a nibble at the buffet of illegal aliens doing illegal garbage.
Enforcing this is a worthwhile use of government resources and tax payers money.
Gang members are terrorists. They're no different than Al-Qaeda, Skinheads, or Operation Rescue. They're just a bunch of violent thugs who kill in order to get their message across.
HELP STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.......MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD:
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/learn/...
note to staff, gas the prisons by dan2548 is ok, but mine was not, i see no difference.
I tried to make ICE aware of the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens breaking federal laws here in Las Vegas. All they told me was to write a report of the problem and they would start an investigation which could take months. Nothing but horse ca-ca! They could go to every construction job in and around the valley, and every casino if not to investigate but to possibly scare these federal criminals away from the work our unemployed americans need for survival. 29 illegals is just a drop in the bucket with the hundreds of thousands of illegals breaking federal laws. Our constitution promises our citizens with the pursuit of happiness which has been taken away by illegals doing the work that americans need. Every time I go on a different jobsite there are tens to over hundreds of illegals working at jobs unemployed americans are screaming for. E-verify should be manditory for anyone taking any job.
Now we hear that Nevada will be out of unemployment benefits by Sept, Oct. When will our government answer the cries of the unemployed american?
Please keep up the good work--I'm afraid to take the dogs for a walk anymore!
Why are we so complacent? Legal Born American's are branded as a racist as soon as the attempt to regain old school ethics and morals.Try this (BS) in any foreign country and you will find yourself incarcerated without a key. Just because I (hate) Mexican Gangs - Black Gangs - Oriental Gangs. I am considered a Racist. (BS)!
I am laughing at some of the comments that all illegals must go. Those of you of European decent seem to forget that your ancesters came to this country as illegals.
I'm all for elimination of gang activity but ICE has not done a very good job if you look at the few people arrested in the past 4 years.
take all illegals to greenland or iceland and have them start shoveling snow and scrape ice off windshields; it'll expand their work skills and provide them with a new home, albeit 80 or 90 degrees cooler than where they came from. god works in strange ways
hannahjane, I take offense to your comment, it seems to me you had better study your history books more. Sure my ancestors came in from Europe. They came in as immigrants and made one important stop at Ellis Island where they became legal citizens, took vaccinations and shots to control any foreign deseases they may have had, and took an oath to swear allegance to our flag and country including its laws. I'd like to know where any of this activity was illegal. Could you please try and explain this to me with some good old intellegiance?
Now we can look at these immigrants who are coming into this country illegally and breaking federal laws. No shots to control any deseases they may be transporting in. They do not take an oath to uphold any laws put forth by any of our government entities. They do not pledge allegiance to our flag or country. They come into our country illegally and are helping to destroy our middle class by taking jobs our citizens despirately need at this time and breaking FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS.
You to me have a very warped sense of humor if you think these immigrants breaking federal laws is something to laugh at. Try to explain to the over 100,000 citizens on unemployment benefits, and especially the ones who have run out of benefits, what you see as funny.
hanna, your comment about people of European decent [sic] is pretty funny.
I personally prefer this;
Immigration Act of 1917 - On February 4, 1917, the United States Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 (also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act) with overwhelming majority, overriding President Woodrow Wilson's December 14, 1916 veto. This act added to the number of undesirables banned from entering the country, including but not limited to, "idiots," "feeble-minded persons," "criminals" "epileptics," "insane persons," alcoholics, "professional beggars," all persons "mentally or physically defective," polygamists, and anarchists.
While it has been revised and is no longer law, I like a lot of the exclusions.
It basically says "if you are a Democrat, stay home". Now that is funny!!