By Cindy Carcamo
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Immigration enforcement officials arrested 1,970 people they thought were gang members in central and Southern California last year in the anti-gang effort Operation Community Shield, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Friday.
Officials made more than 20 percent of the arrests in Orange County, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.
“A significant number of these cases involved targets in O.C.,” she added.
Officials said they could not offer specific numbers because the federal agency does not track arrests by county except during certain special operations.
Mexican nationals accounted for the majority of arrests, said Robert Schoch, a special agent who oversees ICE’s Office of Investigations in Los Angeles.
Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans thought to be members of transnational gangs were also arrested, he added.
Officials think the arrestees range from low- to high-level members of neighborhood, jail or prison gangs. Some belong to transnational crime syndicates such as Mara Salvatrucha, a Los Angeles street gang that became a worldwide network, Schoch said.
Agency officials credited expanded jail screenings and partnerships with local law enforcement, such as the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and La Habra Police Department.
“In Orange County we are working with nearly every police department that has a problem with gangs... Anaheim, La Habra ... Orange, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa,” Schoch said.
Of the 1,970 people arrested last year, federal officials prosecuted more than 850 on federal charges such as re-entry after deportation and weapons violations, the agency reported. If convicted, they would have to serve a prison sentence before officials could deport them.
The rest were arrested, processed through the system on immigration violations and placed in deportation proceedings, Schoch said.
In Operation Community Shield, ICE agents arrested residents of Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
One arrestee from Orange County is a previously deported Mexican national who may have ties to the Westside Dukes, a clique of the Clanton Street gang out of Los Angeles, agency officials said.
“The Clanton Street gang is one of the oldest, notorious Hispanic street gangs in Los Angeles,” ICE agent Jim Pilkington said.
Heriberto Ramos-Moreno, 42, has a criminal record that includes convictions of second-degree robbery and voluntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of a rival gang member in Los Angeles,immigration officials said.
“He’s a ‘veterano’ ... has longstanding gang affiliation,” Pilkington said.
Ramos-Moreno was turned over to ICE in October upon his release from the Orange County Jail, where he was detained on suspicion of obstructing an officer. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting him on suspicion of felony re-entry after deportation. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
La Habra police also contributed to arrests, turning over two people they thought were gang members.
Officers arrested Victor Rios on suspicion of being in the country illegally while possessing a firearm and box of ammunition during a search warrant. Officials think Rios belongs to the Monos Criminal Street gang, Schoch said.
On a separate search warrant, officers arrested Alfredo Jose Rodriguez on suspicion of being in the country illegally while possessing a firearm. Officials think he belongs to the Westside La Habra Compo gang, Schoch said.
Both face up to 10 years in prison before a deportation, Kice said.
Since Operation Community Shield started in 2005, ICE officials have arrested more than 11,850 people they thought were gang members or associates nationwide, including 145 they suspected were gang leaders. ICE has also seized more than 450 firearms, officials reported.
Copyright 2009 The Orange County Register