Illegal Aliens - Joining Forces To Locatecriminal Aliens

Charlie LeDuff reported for the New York Times ("100 Members of Immigrant Gang Held," March 15, 2005) that federal immigration authorities had arrested more than one hundred members of a violent Central American street gang in a nationwide crackdown. The gang, known as "Mara Salvatrucha" or MS-13, originated in Los Angeles and spread across the continent. Gang members were involved in narcotics, gun trafficking, murder, and prostitution. Many of the gang members were illegal aliens, including some who had been deported and returned, and some deportees who never left. The article quoted the opinion of Officer Frank Flores, a gang expert with the Los Angeles Police Department, that members of MS-13 "pose as much a threat to the well-being of ordinary citizens as any foreign terrorist group."

A longstanding problem faced by immigration officials is lack of support from local law enforcement. The Los Angeles Police Department, for example, has a policy that prohibits its officers from informing federal immigration officials about illegal aliens they discover in the normal course of their duties. By letting the immigrant community see that local law officers will not report them, police departments hope to gain the trust of illegal aliens so they will seek assistance when needed and report crimes. Such written or unwritten "sanctuary laws" have been in place in a number of major cities. Several cities prohibit their employees from even asking about a person's immigration status. The arrests of MS-13 gang members appeared to mark a new cooperation between federal, state, and local enforcement agencies.

Supporting the concept of "sanctuary laws," the National Council of La Raza (a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on reducing poverty and discrimination and improving opportunities for Hispanic Americans) charges that allowing local police agencies to enforce federal immigration laws results in racial profiling, police misconduct, and civil rights violations. The council also thinks local police involvement with immigration enforcement undercuts effective law enforcement and hampers antiterrorism efforts.