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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations officers have arrested 1,378 people — eight of whom were detained in Utah — over a six-week period as part of a nationwide operation targeting transnational gang activity.
Those detained included 933 U.S. citizens and 445 people from other countries, although not all were arrested on suspicion of criminal charges, according to a news release from ICE.
Of the total detained, 280 — about 63 percent of the foreign nationals — were arrested on "administrative immigration violations," or being in the country illegally, the release says.
The eight Utah detainees were men arrested in Salt Lake City, St. George and Ogden as part of the operation, which took place March 26 to May 6, said ICE regional spokesman Carl Rusnok. The Utah arrests included five men from Mexico, two men who were U.S. citizens and one man from Guatemala.
Four of the Utah detainees were classified as gang members and four others were "associates," connected with Sureno 13, Angelino Heights, St. George Kings, Norteno and the Sinaloa Cartel, Rusnok said. Details, such as identities and specific charges, were not available, Rusnok said Friday.
Utah immigration defense attorney Aaron Tarin said Saturday he is skeptical of such operations because the evidence against the people arrested can be thin and "speculative."
Additionally, Tarin said, officers may show up to a home looking for one person suspected of violent gang activity but end up "terrorizing the house" by taking in people who are nonviolent but undocumented.
Gang members and associates arrested during the operation are suspected of transnational criminal activity, according to the release, including drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human smuggling and sex trafficking, murder and racketeering.
Operations like these have been conducted regularly by ICE since 2005, when the global initiative of Operation Community Shield began, Rusnok said. The program is meant to target violent gang members and their associates, eradicate the violence they inflict upon communities and stop the cash flow to transnational organized crime groups, according to the release.
"Gangs threaten the safety of our communities, not just in major metropolitan areas but in our suburbs and rural areas, too," ICE acting Director Thomas Homan said in the release. "Gang-related violence and criminal activity present an ongoing challenge for law enforcement everywhere. Our efforts to dismantle gangs are much more effective in areas where partnership with local law enforcement is strongest."
But those partnerships can be "problematic," Tarin said, because when local law enforcement officers team up with ICE agents, it "erodes the trust that the local cops have with local communities."
When community members — especially those who are in the U.S. illegally — see this kind of collaboration, Tarin said, they are less likely to report crimes or cooperate with police because they are afraid of drawing attention to themselves.
The ICE release said numerous state, local and federal law enforcement partners, including ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations unit, assisted with the operation, though information on whether local Utah agencies were involved was not available late Friday afternoon, Rusnok said.
Twitter: @mnoblenews —
ICE's roundup by the numbers
1,378 arrests nationwide
933 U.S. citizens
445 foreign nationals (from 21 countries in South America, Central America, Asia, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean)
1,098 arrested on suspicion of criminal charges
21 on suspicion of murder
7 on suspicion of sexual assault
280 arrested on suspicion of administrative immigration violations
1,095 confirmed* gang members and affiliates
283 claimed no gang affiliation, arrested on criminal or administrative charges
3 previously had deferred action under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)
10 crossed the border as unaccompanied minors
238 firearms seized
9471.58 ounces of drugs
$491,763 seized
*Confirmed gang members have admitted membership in a gang, have been convicted of violating federal or state law that criminalizes or imposes civil consequences for gang-related activity or if they meet certain other criteria, such as having tattoos identifying a specific gang or being identified as a gang member by a reliable source, according to the release.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release