Of 375 arrests in past 2 weeks, seven were made in Denver

Immigration officials are cracking down on gangs operating on both
sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping to prosecute and deport.

International gangs operating on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico
border are spreading to cities nationwide, including Denver,
officials say.

Federal immigration authorities on Friday announced the arrests of
375 suspected members and associates of Central American, Mexican
and other gangs across the country over the past two weeks – the
latest in a year-long effort that has caught 2,388.

In Denver, immigration agents have arrested 70 suspected members of
gangs such as MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, since July, including
seven in the past two weeks, said Jeff Copp, regional chief of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

All those arrested locally lacked legal immigration papers or had
been involved in burglaries, car thefts or fake document
trafficking, Copp said. All, he said, had “verified gang
tattoos.”

International gangs “are spreading across the country, and they
are going to move anywhere they have a community that will support
them and a network set up,” he said.

Federal agents teamed with local police to identify and arrest the
seven arrested most recently in Denver. Nationwide, of those
arrested this past year, 533 face criminal charges, and 1,855 were
charged with immigration violations.

Authorities said 260 of those arrested over the past two weeks
nationwide are suspected of crimes including drug-dealing, rape and
murder.

In some cities, international gangs have preyed on
illegal-immigrant workers who owe money to smugglers.

No links to al-Qaeda have been established, said Claude Arnold,
chief of anti-gang operations at immigration headquarters in
Washington.

The gangs “commit acts of violence wherever they are. They rob.
They do carjacking. They do drive-by shootings,” Arnold said.
“They’re a threat to public safety.”

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, gangs increasingly team up with
cartels that smuggle drugs and people, authorities said. Attacks on
U.S. Border Patrol agents are increasing, with more than 700 last
year.

A recent FBI intelligence bulletin warned that “a known alien
smuggler operating near Rio Bravo, Texas, has instructed his
employees to shoot at U.S. Border Patrol agents.”

Years ago, migrants from Central America formed MS-13, the 18th
Street Gang and others in Los Angeles. As U.S. authorities in the
1990s deported members convicted of crimes, the gangs spread south
of the border. The gangs now threaten security across Central
America and Mexico.

Some of those detained in recent sweeps are to be deported. “The
alternative is to leave them on the streets,” said Dean Boyd,
spokesman at immigration headquarters.

“If we have criminal evidence, we are going to use it, put ’em in
jail for a long time,” Boyd said. “If we don’t, we are going to
deport ’em.”