CHICAGO (STNG) -- Federal agents arrested 49 illegal aliens with alleged ties to violent street gangs in the north and northwest suburbs in a four-day operation targeting foreign-born gang members for arrest and/or deportation.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Friday the arrests part of the national “Operation Community Shield.” ICE was assisted in the operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; sheriffs’ departments in Cook, Boone, DuPage and Winnebago counties; and police departments in Addison, Belvidere, Bensenville, Elgin, Franklin Park, Harvard, Mount Prospect, West Chicago, Wheeling and Woodstock.
Of the 49 arrested in the operation, which began Sunday night and ended Wednesday night, 48 are Mexican nationals and one is from Guatemala, the release said. All are illegal aliens with the exception of one U.S. permanent resident whose criminal convictions make him eligible for deportation.
Forty-seven of those arrested are members or associates of the Brown Pride, Imperial Gangsters, Insane Deuces, Latin Kings, Norteños-14, Sureños-13 or 18th Street Gang, the release said. Two had no known gang affiliations but are deportable because they are in the United States illegally.
Nine of those arrested had been previously deported, the release said. Re-entering the United States after being deported is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.
Among those arrested was Valentin Sierra-Martinez, 20-year-old “Norteño-14” member, who was captured Monday in Elgin, the release said. An illegal alien from Mexico, he has prior convictions for residential burglary, domestic battery, possession of drug paraphernalia and knowingly damaging property. He remains in ICE custody pending deportation.
Also arrested was 23-year-old Mauricio Vega-Cruz, captured Monday in West Chicago, the release said. The self-admitted member of the 18th Street gang was twice deported in 2007 and illegally re-entered, according to the release. He has convictions in Arizona for misconduct involving weapons and drug paraphernalia, as well as arrests for drugs, aggravated assault and discharging a firearm in city limits. He remains in ICE custody pending removal to Mexico.
Of the 49 men arrested, 42 had criminal histories, with convictions including drunken driving, drug possession, aggravated battery, burglary, theft and domestic battery, the release said.
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