A recent sweep across the Central Coast, targeting gang members suspected of living in the country illegally, culminated in 12 arrests.
According to a Santa Maria Police Department press release, the investigation was carried out after individuals known to the Santa Maria Police Department’s Gang Suppression Team as active gang members were cross-checked by agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Santa Maria Police Lt. Jerel Haley said 11 people were arrested during the sweep, and one individual later turned himself in to authorities. Haley clarified that not everyone arrested was found to be a gang member.
The operation ran for multiple days in mid-February, when law enforcement officials visited the residences of known gang members to verify their immigration status. Both the targeted individuals, as well as other occupants, were contacted and interviewed.
“Our officers had done their homework before going to a house to make sure [they weren’t] disturbing legal residents,” Haley said.
He also told the Sun it isn’t unusual for law enforcement agents to team with immigration agents as a means to combat gang activity.
“What we have found is that a majority of the gang members [on the Central Coast] are legal residents of the country, so strictly using [ICE] would not be the most effective tool in gang suppression,” Haley said. “But it is one of many numbers of tools at our disposal.”
The investigation was a joint effort among the Santa Maria Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, State Parole, and the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 3, 2011.
