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+ - IMMIGRATION AND THE ALIEN GANG EPIDEMIC: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
+
+[House Hearing, 109 Congress]
+[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
+
+
+
+ IMMIGRATION AND THE ALIEN GANG EPIDEMIC: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
+
+=======================================================================
+
+ HEARING
+
+ BEFORE THE
+
+ SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION,
+ BORDER SECURITY, AND CLAIMS
+
+ OF THE
+
+ COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
+ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
+
+ ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
+
+ FIRST SESSION
+
+ __________
+
+ APRIL 13, 2005
+
+ __________
+
+ Serial No. 109-8
+
+ __________
+
+ Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
+
+
+ Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/judiciary
+
+
+ ______
+
+ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
+20-528 WASHINGTON : 2005
+_____________________________________________________________________________
+For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
+Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512�091800
+Fax: (202) 512�092250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402�090001
+
+ COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
+
+ F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., Wisconsin, Chairman
+HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan
+HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
+LAMAR SMITH, Texas RICK BOUCHER, Virginia
+ELTON GALLEGLY, California JERROLD NADLER, New York
+BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia
+STEVE CHABOT, Ohio MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina
+DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California ZOE LOFGREN, California
+WILLIAM L. JENKINS, Tennessee SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
+CHRIS CANNON, Utah MAXINE WATERS, California
+SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts
+BOB INGLIS, South Carolina WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
+JOHN N. HOSTETTLER, Indiana ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
+MARK GREEN, Wisconsin ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York
+RIC KELLER, Florida ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
+DARRELL ISSA, California LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
+JEFF FLAKE, Arizona ADAM SMITH, Washington
+MIKE PENCE, Indiana CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
+J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia
+STEVE KING, Iowa
+TOM FEENEY, Florida
+TRENT FRANKS, Arizona
+LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
+
+ Philip G. Kiko, Chief of Staff-General Counsel
+ Perry H. Apelbaum, Minority Chief Counsel
+ ------
+
+ Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims
+
+ JOHN N. HOSTETTLER, Indiana, Chairman
+
+STEVE KING, Iowa SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
+LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
+LAMAR SMITH, Texas ZOE LOFGREN, California
+ELTON GALLEGLY, California LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
+BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia MAXINE WATERS, California
+DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts
+JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
+BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
+DARRELL ISSA, California
+
+ George Fishman, Chief Counsel
+
+ Art Arthur, Counsel
+
+ Luke Bellocchi, Full Committee Counsel
+
+ Cindy Blackston, Professional Staff
+
+ Nolan Rappaport, Minority Counsel
+
+
+ C O N T E N T S
+
+ ----------
+
+ APRIL 13, 2005
+
+ OPENING STATEMENT
+
+ Page
+The Honorable John N. Hostettler, a Representative in Congress
+ from the State of Indiana, and Chairman, Subcommittee on
+ Immigration, Border Security, and Claims....................... 1
+The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress
+ from the State of Texas, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
+ Immigration, Border Security, and Claims....................... 30
+The Honorable Steve King, a Representative in Congress from the
+ State of Iowa.................................................. 33
+The Honorable Maxine Waters, a Representative in Congress from
+ the State of California........................................ 39
+The Honorable Daniel E. Lungren, a Representative in Congress
+ from the State of California................................... 41
+
+ WITNESSES
+
+The Honorable Michael J. Garcia, Assistant Secretary for
+ Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of
+ Homeland Security
+ Oral Testimony................................................. 3
+ Prepared Statement............................................. 5
+Ms. Marsha L. Garst, Commonwealth's Attorney for Rockingham
+ County, Virginia
+ Oral Testimony................................................. 7
+ Prepared Statement............................................. 10
+Ms. Heather Mac Donald, Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute
+ Oral Testimony................................................. 12
+ Prepared Statement............................................. 14
+Ms. Mai Fernandez, Chief Operating Officer, Latin American Youth
+ Center
+ Oral Testimony................................................. 26
+ Prepared Statement............................................. 27
+
+ APPENDIX
+ Material Submitted for the Hearing Record
+
+Prepared Statement of the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a
+ Representative in Congress from the State of Texas............. 45
+Letter from the Latin American Youth Center submitted by the
+ Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee................................... 46
+Letter from the City of Houston submitted by the Honorable Sheila
+ Jackson Lee.................................................... 48
+
+
+ IMMIGRATION AND THE ALIEN GANG EPIDEMIC: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
+
+ ----------
+
+
+ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2005
+
+ House of Representatives,
+ Subcommittee on Immigration,
+ Border Security, and Claims,
+ Committee on the Judiciary,
+ Washington, DC.
+ The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 4:22 p.m., in
+Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. John N.
+Hostettler (Chair of the Subcommittee) presiding.
+ Mr. Hostettler. The Subcommittee will come to order.
+ Today's Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and
+Claims hearing will examine the alien gang epidemic that is
+facing the United States. At this hearing we will examine the
+role of aliens in gang crimes, investigate the immigration
+factors that have shaped the gang epidemic facing this country,
+and assess the use of the immigration laws in controlling alien
+gang crime.
+ While there are an estimated 750,000 to 850,000 gang
+members in the United States today, there are no firm estimates
+on how many of those gang members are aliens and how many are
+citizens. What is apparent, however, is that gang crime is a
+growing problem. Over 631 gang-related homicides occurred in
+2001, and by 2003, the number of gang killings had jumped to
+819. In addition to homicide, gang members have been directly
+linked to the narcotics trade, human trafficking, document
+fraud, and violent assaults.
+ It is also apparent that aliens are members of many of the
+most violent gangs in America. Reports have indicated that 60
+percent of California's 18th Street Gang are illegal aliens.
+This gang is reportedly ``involved in many types of criminal
+activities, including auto theft, carjacking, drive-by
+shootings, drug sales, arms trafficking, extortion, rape,
+murder for hire, and murder.''
+ Similarly, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has
+reported that, ``The majority of MS-13 members are foreign
+nationals in this country illegally.'' Newsweek has termed MS-
+13, which has an estimated 20,000 members in the United States,
+``the most dangerous gang in America.'' It has even been
+alleged to be negotiating with al Qaeda to smuggle terrorists
+into our country.
+ It is also apparent that aliens are key members of these
+dangerous gangs. Lester Rivera Paz, the reputed leader of MS-
+13's Honduran branch, was arrested in Texas in February after
+escaping from his native country where he's wanted in
+connection with a bus ambush. In the past 4 years, Paz has
+reportedly been deported four times by Federal authorities.
+ In addition, it is apparent that even younger members of
+our immigrant communities have become involved in gang
+violence. For example, the April 6, 2005, Washington Post
+reported on a ninth grader who was stabbed and beaten with
+baseball bats outside Manassas Mall. A Prince William County
+Police Department spokesman stated the victim has been
+associated with the South Side Locos gang, and that the
+suspects are believed to be members of the rival gang ``Sureno-
+13.''
+ In response to the threat posed by alien gang members in
+the United States, in March ICE launched `Operation Community
+Shield,' an anti-gang initiative that is targeting members of
+MS-13 in six cities nationwide. To date, ICE agents, working
+with their Federal, State, and local counterparts, have
+arrested more than 150 MS-13 gang members nationwide for
+immigration violations.
+ Some critics have complained, however, that flaws in our
+current immigration system hinder efforts to use the current
+immigration laws to curtail the alien gang epidemic. For
+example, some have pointed to so-called `sanctuary' laws that
+prohibit State and local law enforcement officers from
+contacting immigration authorities about illegal aliens, even
+if they are previously deported criminals. Such laws require
+the police to wait until those illegal aliens prey on the
+public before they can act.
+ Some have asserted that temporary protected status, or TPS,
+has also protected alien gang members who would have otherwise
+been deportable. In January, the Government announced an 18-
+month extension of TPS for El Salvador, the home country of
+many MS-13 members currently in the United States. The
+Subcommittee has been told that two of the three alleged MS-13
+members charged in the 2002 rape of two deaf girls in
+Massachusetts had applied for TPS prior to that attack, and
+that one was actually granted that relief.
+ Finally, the lack of a ground of removal for gang
+membership has been cited as a hurdle to using the immigration
+laws to remove alien gang members from the United States. The
+Subcommittee will assess whether additional resources or
+authorities are necessary to make our immigration laws an
+effective tool for the Government in responding to the gang
+problem facing our country.
+ At this time the Chair will now recognize Members for an
+opening statement, if they have any.
+ Mr. Hostettler. There being no opening statements, we will
+now turn to an introduction of our witnesses before us.
+ Michael Garcia has served as the Assistant Secretary for
+U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since November 25,
+2003. Just prior to his appointment, Mr. Garcia was Acting
+Commissioner of the former Immigration and Naturalization
+Service. He has also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in
+New York City working on high-profile terrorism cases. Mr.
+Garcia is a graduate of the State University of New York at
+Binghamton. He received his law degree from the Albany Law
+School, where he was valedictorian.
+ Now I would to introduce Marsha Garst, but I yield to the
+gentleman from Virginia to introduce his constituent,
+Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst.
+ Mr. Goodlatte. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for
+holding this hearing on this very important issue and for
+allowing me this privilege.
+ Marsha Garst is the Commonwealth's Attorney for the County
+of Rockingham and the City of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and in
+this position she has prosecuted hundreds of civil and criminal
+cases with an emphasis on capital murder and narcotics. She has
+previously worked in the private sector with a law firm in that
+area, and she has been named the Business and Professional
+Women's State Young Careerist of the Year in 2000 and
+Professional Woman of the Year in 2002. She is a graduate of
+the University of Virginia and George Mason University School
+of Law, and I am very pleased to welcome a very capable and
+able Commonwealth Attorney, who is very knowledgeable on this
+subject.
+ Mr. Hostettler. I thank the gentleman. We welcome Ms.
+Garst.
+ Heather Mac Donald is a John M. Olin Fellow at the
+Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to City Journal.
+Her work at City Journal covers a range of topics including
+homeland security, immigration, and policing. After clerking
+for Judge Stephen Reinhart of the Ninth Circuit Court of
+Appeals, Ms. Mac Donald served as an attorney-advisor in the
+General Counsel's Office of the U.S. Environmental Protection
+Agency. She is a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and other
+television and radio programs. Ms. Mac Donald, a graduate of
+Yale University, earned her master's degree in English from
+Cambridge University and her law degree from Stanford Law
+School.
+ Mai Fernandez is the Chief Operating Officer of the Latin
+American Youth Center in Washington, D.C. She has also served
+as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General in the
+Office of Justice Programs. Before working for the Department
+of Justice, she served as an Assistant District Attorney in
+Manhattan, and as an aide to Congressmen Mickey Leland and Jim
+Florio. Ms. Fernandez is a graduate of Dickinson College. She
+received her law degree from American University and her
+Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard
+University.
+ Ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate your attendance here
+today. Secretary Garcia, you will begin, and you will see that
+there will be a 5-minute time period for your testimony. If you
+could stay as close within that as possible, we would
+appreciate it. Secretary Garcia.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE MICHAEL J. GARCIA, ASSISTANT
+ SECRETARY FOR IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, U.S.
+ DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
+
+ Mr. Garcia. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Members
+of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak
+with you today about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
+response to alien gang activity in the United States. Mr.
+Chairman, you have very vividly outlined the threat posed by
+these gangs to our communities. I can assure you that ICE
+brings to bear all of its law enforcement and investigative
+powers to combat violent street gangs.
+ Ensuring public safety is among the most important homeland
+security missions at ICE. Gang enforcement is a crucial part of
+that mission. In the last decade, the United States has
+experienced a dramatic increase in the number and size of
+transnational street gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha, commonly
+known as MS-13. These gangs have a significant, often a
+majority, foreign-born membership and are frequently involved
+in human and contraband smuggling, immigration violations, and
+other crimes with a nexus to the border. Like any street gang,
+these gangs also have a propensity toward violence. Their
+members commit such crimes as robbery, extortion, assault,
+rape, and murder.
+ In 2003, ICE conducted a comprehensive threat assessment on
+violent street gang activity in the United States. The threat
+assessment identified MS-13 as having a presence across the
+nation, a significant foreign-born membership, and a history of
+violence.
+ An example of this violence occurred just outside our
+nation's Capital. In May 2004, in Alexandria, Virginia, members
+of MS-13 viciously hacked at a rival gang member with machetes,
+severing the victim's hands. The victims of gang crime are not
+limited to rival gang members, however. Entire neighborhoods
+and sometimes whole communities are held hostage by and
+subjected to the violence of street gangs. Community members
+are targeted by gangs for extortion, robberies, carjackings,
+and home invasions. In drive-by shootings, the bullets fired by
+street gangs do not discriminate between a rival gang member
+and a child.
+ Based on this threat assessment, ICE initiated Operation
+Community Shield in February 2005, with priority given to
+targeting MS-13 members. The objective of Community Shield is
+to gather intelligence, develop sources of information, and to
+ultimately disrupt, dismantle, and prosecute violent street
+gangs by applying the full range of authorities and
+investigative tools available at ICE. In Community Shield, we
+have designated priorities for apprehension based on whether a
+gang member is a threat to national security, in a position of
+leadership, or has a prior violent criminal history.
+ Since the beginning of Operation Community Shield, more
+than 150 MS-13 gang members have been arrested for immigration
+violations. Nine of those arrested have been identified as
+leaders. More than half of those arrested have violent criminal
+histories with arrests and convictions for crimes such as
+robbery, assault, rape, and murder. In one set of arrests,
+Miami ICE agents apprehended two MS-13 gang members wanted by
+California authorities on murder charges. These two gang
+members were also being sought by local authorities for their
+suspected involvement in home invasions. Twenty-two of those
+arrested have been criminally charged for illegal reentry after
+deportation and are subject to sentences of up to 20 years in
+prison, depending on their criminal history. Examples of
+illegal reentry arrests include an MS-13 member from Long
+Island who had convictions for burglary, auto theft,
+harassment, and sexual abuse of a minor. Additionally, ICE
+agents in Los Angeles arrested four MS-13 gang members that
+illegally reentered the U.S., all with convictions for violent
+crimes ranging from brandishing a firearm to witness tampering.
+Finally, Newark agents apprehended an MS-13 gang member for
+illegal reentry who had prior convictions for armed robbery and
+grand theft.
+ ICE's efforts under Operation Community Shield are not
+limited to immigration violations, and, again, we bring all our
+authorities, including our financial and criminal investigative
+authorities, to bear.
+ Through Operation Community Shield, ICE is taking
+innovative steps to identify MS-13 gang members. The Law
+Enforcement Support Center checks MS-13 gang member data
+provided by State and local authorities against DHS and other
+databases to locate gang members. In a cooperative effort, ICE
+and the Bureau of Prisons identified 102 records of MS-13 gang
+members in the Federal prison system database.
+ The LESC has also developed an innovative way to help
+identify MS-13 gang members to first responders. When a State
+or local police agency makes an inquiry to the LESC through the
+National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, the LESC
+sends certain inquiry responses to ICE headquarters for further
+analysis. When a match is found, ICE notifies the inquiring law
+enforcement agency of its findings. You can see what a safety
+benefit that would have to any officer approaching a car on the
+side of the road at night who would certainly want to know the
+person in that vehicle is a suspected gang member.
+ On December 23, 2004, the Columbus, Ohio, Police Department
+encountered Nelson Flores following a minor traffic accident
+and contacted the LESC for information. ICE special agents at
+the LESC and Columbus officers soon determined that Flores was
+a previously deported felon linked to a drive-by shooting in
+Nevada and was a local leader of MS-13. LESC agents immediately
+lodged a detainer and notified Ohio ICE agents who responded
+and arrested Flores for illegal reentry after deportation.
+ I will sum up now, Mr. Chairman, in keeping with your
+instructions to keep to the 5-minute rule, but I will say that
+in the final analysis, Operation Community Shield is a homeland
+security initiative. Every criminal organization that can
+exploit the border is viewed as a potential national security
+threat. In recent months, there have been uncorroborated
+reports in the media and from foreign governments of possible
+links between al Qaeda and MS-13. While neither ICE nor any
+other U.S. Government agency that I know of has credible
+evidence to support these reports, the threat remains that any
+criminal organization that exploits our borders for profit
+could, for the right price, bring in terrorists or bring in
+components of weapons of mass destruction.
+ Operation Community Shield marks just the beginning of
+ICE's fight to defeat violent street gangs. I want to thank
+you, Mr. Chairman, and the distinguished Members of this
+Committee for the opportunity to speak about this gang
+initiative before you today, and I look forward to answering
+all of your questions. Thank you.
+ [The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia follows:]
+
+ Prepared Statement of the Honorable Michael J. Garcia
+
+ MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE, thank you for the
+opportunity to speak with you today about U.S. Immigration and Customs
+Enforcement's (ICE) responses to alien gang activity in the United
+States. ICE brings to bear all of its law enforcement and investigative
+powers to combat violent street gangs.
+ Ensuring public safety is among the most important homeland
+security missions of ICE. Gang enforcement is a crucial part of that
+mission. In the last decade, the United States has experienced a
+dramatic increase in the number and size of transnational street gangs
+such as Mara Salvatrucha (commonly know as MS-13). These gangs have a
+significant, often a majority, foreign-born membership and are
+frequently involved in human and contraband smuggling, immigration
+violations and other crimes with a nexus to the border. Like any street
+gang, these gangs also have a propensity toward violence. Their members
+commit such crimes as robbery, extortion, assault, rape and murder.
+ In 2003 ICE conducted a comprehensive threat assessment on violent
+street gang activity in the United States. The threat assessment
+identified the street gang MS-13 as having a presence across the
+nation, a significant foreign-born membership and a history of
+violence.
+ An example of this violence occurred just outside our nation's
+Capital. In May 2004 in Alexandria, Virginia, members of MS-13
+viciously hacked at a rival gang member with machetes, severing the
+victim's hands. The victims of gang crime are not limited to rival gang
+members. Entire neighborhoods and sometimes whole communities are held
+hostage by and subjected to the violence of street gangs. Community
+members are targeted by gangs for extortion, robberies, car-jackings
+and home invasions. In the conduct of drive-by shootings, the bullets
+fired by street gangs do not discriminate between a rival gang member
+and a sleeping infant in the same house.
+ Based on this threat assessment, ICE initiated Operation Community
+Shield on February 23, 2005, with priority given to targeting MS-13
+members. The objective of Community Shield is to gather intelligence,
+develop sources of information, and to ultimately disrupt, dismantle
+and prosecute violent street gangs by applying the full range of
+authorities and investigative tools available to ICE. In Community
+Shield we have designated priorities for apprehension based on whether
+a gang member is a threat to national security; in a position of
+leadership; or has a prior violent criminal history.
+ Since the beginning of Operation Community Shield, more than 150
+MS-13 gang members have been arrested for immigration violations. Nine
+of those arrested have been identified as leaders. More than half of
+those arrested have violent criminal histories with arrests and
+convictions for crimes such as robbery, assault, rape and murder. In
+one set of arrests, Miami ICE agents apprehended two MS-13 gang members
+wanted by California authorities on murder charges. These two gang
+members were also being sought by local authorities for their suspected
+involvement in home invasions.
+ Twenty-two of those arrested have been criminally charged for
+illegal reentry after deportation (8 USC 1326) and are subject to up to
+20 years in Federal prison, depending on their criminal history.
+Examples of illegal reentry arrests include an MS-13 member from Long
+Island who has convictions for burglary, auto theft, harassment and
+sexual abuse of a minor. Additionally, ICE agents in Los Angeles
+arrested four MS-13 gang members that illegally reentered the U.S., all
+with convictions for violent crimes ranging from brandishing a firearm
+to witness tampering. Finally, Newark ICE agents apprehended an MS-13
+gang member for illegal reentry who has prior convictions for armed
+robbery and grand theft.
+ ICE's investigative efforts under Operation Community Shield are
+not limited to immigration violations. We have the combined authorities
+for enforcing both customs and immigration laws, which makes our
+approach to fighting organized criminal activity and gang violence
+unique, and more effective. By combining immigration enforcement
+authorities with expertise in financial investigations, we have an
+additional tool to hit these criminal gangs where it hurts--by going
+after their money. One example of how these combined authorities can be
+so effective is in an investigation of a street gang known to transport
+large quantities of narcotics from Mexico into the United States. This
+investigation involves pursuing money laundering charges, drug
+smuggling charges, the use of electronic surveillance and identifying
+and targeting illicit proceeds for forfeiture.
+ Through Operation Community Shield, ICE is taking other innovative
+steps to identify MS-13 gang members and disrupt its organizations. The
+ICE Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) has checked MS-13 gang member
+data provided by our state and local law enforcement partners against
+DHS and other databases to identify and locate gang members. In a
+cooperative effort, ICE and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) have
+identified 102 records of MS-13 gang members in the federal prison
+system database. Through the cross-check, ICE and the BOP hope to
+identify MS-13 gang members who may be directing criminal activity from
+behind bars and prioritize jailed gang members for deportation upon
+completion of their sentence.
+ The LESC has also developed an innovative way to help identify MS-
+13 gang members to first responders. When a State or local police
+agency makes an inquiry to the LESC through the National Law
+Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS), the LESC forwards
+inquiry responses that meet a certain criteria to ICE Headquarters for
+further analysis and comparison with data ICE has on MS-13 gang
+members. When a match is found, ICE notifies the inquiring law
+enforcement agency of its findings and coordinates enforcement action
+to be taken. The goal is to prosecute if possible and ultimately deport
+these alien gang members from the United States.
+ On December 23, 2004, the Columbus, Ohio Police Department
+encountered Nelson Flores following a minor traffic accident and
+contacted the LESC for information. ICE Special Agents at the LESC and
+Columbus officers soon determined that Flores was a previously deported
+felon linked to a drive-by shooting in Nevada and was a local leader of
+MS-13. LESC agents immediately lodged a detainer and notified Ohio ICE
+agents who responded and arrested Flores for illegal reentry after
+deportation.
+ ICE maintains a close working relationship with Mexico, Honduras,
+El Salvador and Guatemala in the exchange of intelligence pertaining to
+MS-13 and other gang activity. ICE established a working relationship
+with Honduran Law Enforcement Intelligence Units regarding the arrest
+of Lester RIVERA-Paz in South Texas. RIVERA-Paz, the alleged national
+leader of the Honduran MS-13 organization, was an international
+fugitive, wanted by Honduran authorities for his involvement in the
+massacre of 28 bus passengers in December of 2004 in San Pedro Sula,
+Honduras. RIVERA-Paz was apprehended by Customs and Border Protection
+Border Patrol agents and placed into ICE custody pending prosecution
+for illegal reentry after deportation. ICE Intelligence secured copies
+of the Honduran arrest warrant, as well as photos and fingerprints of
+RIVERA-Paz to confirm his identity and fugitive status.
+ At ICE, we recognize that no single law enforcement agency can win
+the fight against transnational street gangs. ICE is working closely
+with a number of agencies and organizations under Operation Community
+Shield. Such cooperation is critical to the success of this initiative.
+ICE's Operation Community Shield partners include other agencies within
+the Department of Homeland Security; the Department of Justice;
+Department of State; the governments of El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico
+and Guatemala; and state and local law enforcement agencies throughout
+the United States. ICE has a long history of working with our partners
+in law enforcement to leverage our enforcement abilities. Operation
+Community Shield is no exception.
+ In the final analysis, Operation Community Shield is a homeland
+security initiative. Every criminal organization that can exploit the
+border is viewed as a potential national security threat. In recent
+months, there have been uncorroborated reports in the media and from
+foreign governments of possible links between Al-Qaeda and MS-13.
+Neither ICE nor any other U.S. Government agency has credible evidence
+to support these reports.
+ This operation is just the beginning in our fight to defeat violent
+street gangs. Operation Community Shield is an important public safety
+initiative for the Department of Homeland Security that targets the
+proliferation of gang violence throughout the country. By bringing the
+full range of ICE's immigration and customs authorities in the fight
+against violent street gangs, we can take hundreds of gang members off
+the streets and have a significant impact on community safety.
+ I want to thank the distinguished members of this Committee for the
+opportunity to speak before you today. I look forward to answering any
+questions you may have.
+
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
+ Ms. Garst.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF MARSHA L. GARST, COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY FOR
+ ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA
+
+ Ms. Garst. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and honored
+Members of the House Judiciary----
+ Mr. Hostettler. Could you push the button there on the box
+there?
+ Ms. Garst. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and honored
+Members of the House Judiciary Committee. It's a pleasure to be
+here in the springtime. What a lovely day. As the Congressman
+introduced me, I'm Marsha Garst from Rockingham County, City of
+Harrisonburg, and I am serving as Commonwealth's Attorney.
+ I have been a lifelong resident of Rockingham County and
+the City of Harrisonburg, as five generations of my family
+before me. So it's with a sense of urgency that I address you
+today as I raise my own family in the valley to let you know
+that with the alien gang problem, our way of life could be
+lost.
+ As was the case with my family, many immigrants came to the
+valley for good jobs, an abundance of good agricultural
+opportunities. We have a burgeoning poultry industry and
+agricultural economy. Currently, Harrisonburg is second in the
+State for English as a Second Language program. We have over 56
+different countries of origin in our school system and 38
+different languages spoken. Right now, Spanish is the second,
+of course, primary language in our area, with 72 percent of our
+program being Spanish-speaking. Many of these immigrants have
+contributed to the positive growth of this community, but I'm
+here to address the minority, which is the alien gang group.
+ When I began prosecution in 1994, there was a new drug on
+the street called methamphetamine, and there was not one
+organized gang in our area. We only had 160 students in our ESL
+program. Now we have over 1,422. We heard of a gang called MS-
+13 first in 1999 when we had two members apprehended who had
+fled from Fairfax County, who were staying with family members
+here in Harrisonburg, regarding a malicious wounding charge
+they had fled.
+ Our next contact then came most recently in August of 2003
+regarding a woman by the name of Brenda Paz, whom many of you
+are familiar with. Fairfax investigators advised us that she
+had been living in our community with family members, and she
+was a point of contact for local MS-13 gang members. She later
+cooperated, of course, against MS-13 gang members, rejoined the
+gang, and was murdered, and, of course, as you all know, she
+was pregnant as well.
+ We also had another fatality related to gang opportunities,
+which was a young woman who was contacted and involved with MS-
+13. She was involved with stealing vehicles in Northern
+Virginia and killed in the process of stealing vehicles with
+MS-13. Her sister, who was only 14 at the time, was later
+arrested in our local high school system for vandalism and gang
+participation due to this MS-13 alliance.
+ I would like to introduce from the City of Harrisonburg,
+County of Rockingham Gang Task Force, Sergeant Chris Rush, if
+he would stand a moment. He has provided almost all the facts
+and has been our local expert in this area. He was instrumental
+in providing this data. We have ten active gangs currently with
+100 documented, meaning certified, members that we're aware of.
+ Our most powerful gang is Sureno-13. There's at least 75
+percent illegal aliens that we approximate in that group, about
+40 active members. They have already been tied to and
+prosecuted for malicious woundings, firearms violations,
+robberies, abductions, assaults, breaking and enterings,
+larcenies, and vandalisms.
+ One case of note was a 15-year-old young lady who was a
+sister of a Sureno-13 member who was stabbed by a rival gang
+member, MS-13. She came to school with stab wounds. A guidance
+counselor saw this. Her family would not cooperate with the
+prosecution due to, one, illegal status and gang ties.
+ Another case of note was just recently when we had an
+abduction and robbery where Sureno-13 members went into the
+home of a CRIPS member, held all the residents at gunpoint, and
+robbed them. Several illegal aliens participated in this, and
+they were not prosecuted due to the lack of cooperation of the
+victims. The case had to be dismissed because the young man who
+was the subject of the attack said that he was afraid to
+prosecute.
+ Our next most powerful gang is MS-13. There's about 50
+percent of the members that we can corroborate to be illegal
+aliens. The rest are here with political asylum from El
+Salvador. And this doesn't include all the MS-13 members who
+come down from Northern Virginia to help participate in these
+activities. We've already arrested them for malicious wounding,
+firearms violations, larcenies, vandalisms and taggings. One
+MS-13 member most recently was hit with a broken bottle and
+injured pretty badly in February 2005. He went and got a friend
+who was tied with MS-13, and he and another friend went back
+and discharged several rounds of ammunition into the crowd, and
+many people were frightened. Luckily, we didn't have a
+fatality.
+ You will find some attached samples of gang taggings. I
+hope that you have these photographs included in your packet.
+The first depicts at a local housing project, Harris Gardens, a
+SUR 13 member executing another rival gang member. Then you see
+someone proud enough to put their SUR 13 ties and very
+prominent markings on their back. The most common hand marking
+of SUR 13 is there, as well as large taggings in a very
+prominent place showing SUR 13 in the main area of our town,
+and then taggings for the MS-13 turf.
+ As I sum this up, I want you to know that local teachers in
+our second grade have told us that MS-13 and SUR 13 are already
+recruiting our children. There's a photograph below, gentlemen
+and ladies, that I'd like you to look at, if you have that,
+which shows our middle school traveling here to the nation's
+Capital. You will see two flashing gang signs: the one in the
+front, CRIPS; the back, with the sign of the Bloods.
+ There was a significant problem with illegal aliens making
+up gangs in the Shenandoah Valley. In the past month, ICE has
+worked very close. We're very lucky to have now a local office.
+We have ten gang members we identified. Out of these ten, two
+have been deported and have already reentered the United
+States. Three are awaiting criminal charges, and upon
+conviction will be deported.
+ There is a nexus about to occur that is very important. In
+Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, 40 percent of the
+methamphetamine that has been seized in the entire State of
+Virginia has come from our locality. What we have seen in
+Shenandoah County, just to the north of us where Ms. Paz was
+killed, that gang ties are already showing gangs to be actively
+moving to methamphetamine. We are yet to see that actively in
+Harrisonburg, but when they realize that they can use
+methamphetamine for the benefit of the gang, then we're in
+trouble because it will go from just individual gain to the
+gain of the gang. Once they decide to do that, then we're going
+to have a crisis.
+ I thank you so much for your time this afternoon, and I
+thank you for your attention to this very important problem.
+ [The prepared statement of Ms. Garst follows:]
+
+ Prepared Statement of Marsha Garst
+
+ Good afternoon honored members of the House of Representatives
+Judiciary Committee and guests. It is a pleasure to be back in our
+Nation's Capital in the springtime. My name is Marsha Garst and I am
+the Commonwealth's Attorney of Rockingham County and the City of
+Harrisonburg. Except for my time at the University of Virginia and here
+in Washington, D.C., I have also been a lifelong resident of Rockingham
+County and the City of Harrisonburg. Five (5) generations of my family
+have made their home in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and as I now
+raise my own family there, it is with a great sense of urgency that I
+ask you to address the Alien Gang crime problem in the Valley of
+Virginia before our way of life is lost forever.
+ As was the case with my family, many immigrants have migrated to
+the Shenandoah Valley for the abundance of jobs and the quality of
+living. Most recently, many immigrants have come to Rockingham County
+and the City of Harrisonburg to seek employment in our burgeoning
+poultry industry and agricultural economy. Currently, the City of
+Harrisonburg is second in the state for English as a Second Language
+(ESL) education and has over fifty-six (56) different countries of
+origin and thirty-eight (38) different spoken languages in our public
+school system. Spanish as the primary language makes up seventy-two
+(72) percent of the ESL program attendees. Most immigrants to the
+community have contributed to the positive growth and well being of our
+town. However, I am here to address the dangerous minority--that is
+alien gang members that have come to prey on other immigrants and
+citizens.
+ When I began prosecution as in 1994, organized gangs were unheard
+of and new drug--methamphetamine was making its way to our streets. In
+1994, we had 160 students in the ESL program in the City of
+Harrisonburg. In 2004, we had 1,422 students in the ESL program. We
+first heard of a gang called MS-13 in 1999 when we apprehended two (2)
+members of the gang wanted on malicious wounding charges who were
+staying with family members in Harrisonburg after fleeing Fairfax
+County.
+ Our next contact with MS-13 came in August of 2003. Virginia State
+Police members and Fairfax County Investigators, advised us that a
+woman by the name of Brenda Paz had been living in Harrisonburg,
+Virginia, with family members. Ms. Paz served as a point of contact for
+MS-13 gang members. As many of you know, she later cooperated against
+other MS-13 gang members and was found brutally murdered in the
+adjoining county of Shenandoah. Ms. Paz was also pregnant.
+ Later in 2003, another young woman from Harrisonburg, Virginia died
+due to her gang contacts when her boyfriend and she were stealing cars
+in Northern Virginia for MS-13 and died in a car crash. This young
+woman's surviving sister, who was only 14 years of age at the time, was
+charged after her sister's death with vandalism and gang participation
+due to her alliance with MS-13.
+ Currently, the City of Harrisonburg and County of Rockingham has a
+Gang Task Force. This task force has a coordinator with who I have
+worked for a decade, Sgt. Chris Rush--I would like to introduce him at
+the time--he was instrumental in providing the following details: The
+City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County has ten (10) active gangs
+with over one-hundred (100) documented members.
+ The Surenos 13 are currently the most powerful gang over forty (40)
+members strong. This gang draws its ranks from Mexican citizens. They
+are comprised of at least seventy-five (75) percent illegal aliens and
+have been tied to malicious woundings, firearms violations, robberies,
+abductions, assaults, breaking and enterings, larcenies, and vandalisms
+in our community. One sad case of note was a fifteen (15) year old
+sister of a Surenos 13 member was stabbed by a MS-13 member and
+presented at school with stab wounds, but her family would not
+cooperate with the prosecution of her attacker because of the families'
+illegal status and gang ties. Another case of note is the 2004 case of
+abduction and robbery wherein Sur 13 members went to the home of a
+CRIPS member and held residents at gunpoint and robbed residents.
+Several illegal aliens participated in this attack, but could not be
+prosecuted due to the lack of cooperation of the victims. The case was
+dismissed because the victim told his mother he was afraid of SUR 13
+members and refused to testify. The abduction and robbery were
+retaliation for a drug debt. We have also had numerous home invasions
+of illegal alien homes and citizens by SUR 13. SUR 13 knows that
+victims will not prosecute because of their illegal status and many
+cases go unreported.
+ Our next powerful gang is MS-13 with twenty-five (25) documented
+local resident members. Approximately fifty (50) percent of these
+members are illegal aliens. The rest are here on political asylum from
+El Salvador. This does not include the many MS-13 members that travel
+down from Northern Virginia to participate in criminal activities. In
+Harrisonburg and the County of Rockingham, we have had malicious
+woundings, firearms violation, assault, larcenies, and vandalisms or
+taggings. One recent case of note, in February 2005, a MS-13 member was
+assaulted with a broken bottle. This MS-13 member went and got two (2)
+friends, one with gang ties, and returned and discharged several
+ammunitions into the area of the crowd where he was assaulted.
+ Below, please find examples of the gang markings. The first
+Photograph depicts a tagging on the door of public housing complex--
+Harris Gardens, in the City of Harrisonburg. It depicts a SUR 13 member
+executing a local rival gang member. The second photograph depicts a
+SUR 13 member so proud he would wear his markings in a permanent
+tattoo.
+
+
+
+ The first photograph below depicts a common gang tattoo. The second
+photograph depicts a large tagging by SUR 13.
+
+
+
+ The photographs below depict recent taggings on well known MS-13
+Turf.
+
+
+
+ Finally, we have evidence from local teachers of the second grade
+that gang recruiting for MS-13 and SUR 13 has already begun. The
+photograph below depicts local school children on a field trip to our
+Nation's Capitol flashing gang signs. This picture was copied from one
+of our local yearbooks in the Harrisonburg area.
+
+
+
+ Illegal aliens makeup a significant portion of gang members in the
+Shenandoah Valley. Within the past month, a list of ten (10) gang
+members was given to our local ICE office. Out of these ten members,
+two (2) had all ready been deported and have re-entered the United
+States and three (3) are awaiting criminal charges and upon conviction
+will be deported because of their illegal status. There are also other
+documented cases in which our local police officers have encountered
+gang members/associates who had been deported and re-entered and were
+re-arrested.
+ A dangerous nexus is about to occur. Approximately forty (40)
+percent of methamphetamine seized in the State of Virginia was seized
+in Rockingham County and the City of Harrisonburg. Already Shenandoah
+County has seen gang activity tied to methamphetamine. The City of
+Harrisonburg and the County of Rockingham are currently seeing gang
+members in possession of and distributing narcotics. However, it does
+not appear at this time they are doing it for the benefit of the gang,
+but for the benefit of their individual gain. Once gangs decide to use
+the valley drug trade as a profit base, then we will truly have a
+crisis.
+ Thank you for your attention to this very serious problem and thank
+you for your time.
+
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you, Ms. Garst.
+ Ms. Mac Donald.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF HEATHER MAC DONALD, SENIOR FELLOW, THE MANHATTAN
+ INSTITUTE
+
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a great honor
+and privilege to be here today before your Subcommittee, which
+is an absolute brain trust of information.
+ Does that affect us or are we having a little security
+alert?
+ Mr. Hostettler. We will--no, no security alert.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. You never know in the capital.
+ Mr. Hostettler. We will have a vote in the House of
+Representatives and so--I don't know if we have a series of
+votes, but we will have a vote in the House, so we'll probably
+have to recess for a short time.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Okay.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Hopefully we will get through yours and Ms.
+Fernandez's testimony in that time.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. So I should continue.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Yes, please continue.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Okay. I've had the privilege of working
+with your general counsel in the past, and I'm glad to finally
+be here to see where all the knowledge is coming from.
+ My name again is Heather Mac Donald. I'm a fellow at the
+Manhattan Institute. I've written extensively on immigration
+issues and policing, with a special emphasis on Southern
+California and New York City.
+ Gang crime is the one category of crime that is exploding
+nationally. It's up 50 percent from 1999 to 2002, and it's
+going to continue to rise so long as our immigration system
+remains broken.
+ As Mr. Garcia told us, nobody knows for certain the
+percentage of illegal aliens in gangs, thanks in part to
+sanctuary laws that forbid local police from even inquiring
+into a criminal's immigration status. But there's a few numbers
+that I think are suggestive.
+ In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for
+homicide target illegal aliens, and approximately two-thirds of
+all felony outstanding warrants target illegal aliens. ICE says
+Mara Salvatrucha is predominantly or majority illegal. Police
+officers will tell you it's basically 100 percent illegal. He
+mentioned the 18th Street Gang or you mentioned the 18th Street
+Gang, which a California Department of Justice study put at
+about 60 percent illegal. Again, cops will say otherwise.
+ Now, given such numbers, leveraging a criminal's illegal
+status to have him deported would seem to be an essential
+weapon against gang crime. But in cities and counties across
+the country, police are prohibited from using the most
+immediate and straightforward tool to get illegal criminals off
+the streets: their illegal status.
+ Here's how it works: Let's say an officer in Hollywood,
+California, sees a previously deported felon, a member of MS-
+13, back at Hollywood and Vine hanging out. Now, the officer
+recognizes him and knows that his mere presence in the country
+following deportation is a Federal felony. But under the
+prevailing understanding of Los Angeles' sanctuary law, known
+as Special Order 40, that cop can't lay a finger on that felon
+for his immigration felony. Instead, he has to wait and
+laboriously build up probable cause for, let's say, a murder or
+an armed assault. But as any prosecutor here knows, it's not
+always certain that you're going to get that probable cause,
+especially with gang crime, since witnesses are terrified of
+retaliation. Using the felon's immigration status now to get
+him off the street is the surest way of protecting the
+community.
+ The damage done by sanctuary laws is clear. Let me just
+give you a few examples.
+ In late 2002, four illegal Mexicans brutally abducted and
+gang-raped a 42-year-old mother of two near a railroad in
+Queens, New York. Three of these illegal rapists had been
+arrested numerous times for assault, attempted robbery,
+criminal trespass, illegal gun possession. But pursuant to New
+York's sanctuary policy, the police had never notified the INS.
+ In Los Angeles, 5 months ago, Carlos Barrera, an illegal
+Mexican, mugged three people, burglarized two apartments, and
+attempted to rape a 5-year-old girl. He had been deported 4
+years ago for crimes of violence but, of course, had reentered.
+Since his reentry, he had been stopped twice for traffic
+violations. But, again, the cops never notified ICE because of
+L.A.'s sanctuary policy.
+ Now, L.A. is proposing to issue new guidelines, but it
+merely shows how perverse our attitudes toward border
+trespassing are. It would require a cop to go all the way up
+through his chain of command, then up through ICE's chain of
+command to get a Federal warrant to make an arrest. Your
+average citizen street thug is not required--does not have the
+right to a Federal warrant before being arrested, only illegal
+aliens.
+ In conclusion, getting rid of sanctuary laws is only the
+first step to being able to solve the illegal alien gang crime.
+ICE has to come up with sufficient deportation resources and
+detention space, and the Bush administration has to engage in
+the radical step of actually enforcing the immigration laws,
+including laws against hiring illegal aliens. As long as the
+jobs magnet retains its force, we're not going to be able to
+stop the flood of illegals that are bringing terrorists,
+undoubtedly, and criminals in their wake.
+ Sanctuary laws are not pro-immigrant. They're anti-
+immigrant by keeping violent criminals in the community where
+they're preying predominantly on law-abiding immigrants.
+ Thank you very much.
+ [The prepared statement of Ms. Mac Donald follows:]
+
+ Prepared Statement of Heather Mac Donald
+
+ My name is Heather Mac Donald. I am a senior fellow at the
+Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a think tank in New York City.
+I have analyzed illegal immigration for City Journal and the Los
+Angeles Times, among other publications. I have also written a book on
+policing called Are Cops Racist? I appreciate the opportunity to
+testify today on this important topic.
+ Sanctuary laws are a serious impediment to stemming gang violence
+and other crime. Moreover, they are a perfect symbol of this country's
+topsy-turvy stance towards illegal immigration.
+ Sanctuary laws, present in such cities as Los Angeles, New York,
+Chicago, Austin, Houston, and San Francisco, generally forbid local
+police officers from inquiring into a suspect's immigration status or
+reporting it to federal authorities. Such laws place a higher priority
+on protecting illegal aliens from deportation than on protecting legal
+immigrants and citizens from assault, rape, arson, and other crimes.
+ Let's say a Los Angeles police officer sees a member of Mara
+Salvatrucha hanging out at Hollywood and Vine. The gang member has
+previously been deported for aggravated assault; his mere presence back
+in the country following deportation is a federal felony. Under the
+prevailing understanding of Los Angeles's sanctuary law (special order
+40), if that officer merely inquires into the gangbanger's immigration
+status, the officer will face departmental punishment.
+ To get the felon off the street, the cop has to wait until he has
+probable cause to arrest the gangbanger for a non-immigration crime,
+such as murder or robbery. It is by no means certain that that officer
+will successfully build a non-immigrant case against the gangster,
+however, since witnesses to gang crime often fear deadly retaliation if
+they cooperate with the police. Meanwhile, the gangbanger is free to
+prey on law-abiding members of his community, many of them immigrants
+themselves.
+ This is an extraordinarily inefficient way to reduce crime. If an
+officer has grounds for arresting a criminal now, it is perverse to ask
+him to wait until some later date when maybe, if he is lucky, he will
+have an additional ground for arrest.
+ Sanctuary laws violate everything we have learned about policing in
+the 1990s. Police departments across the country discovered that
+utilizing every law enforcement tool in their tool chest against
+criminals yielded enormous gains. Getting criminals off the streets for
+seemingly ``minor'' crimes such as turnstile jumping or graffiti saved
+lives. Gang crime, which exploded 50% from 1999 to 2002, is too serious
+a problem to ignore this lesson.
+ No one knows for certain the percentage of illegals in gangs,
+thanks in large part to sanctuary laws themselves. But various
+estimates exist:
+ --A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in
+1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern
+California is illegal; police officers say the proportion is actually
+much greater. The bloody gang collaborates with the Mexican Mafia, the
+dominant force in California prisons, on complex drug-distribution
+schemes, extortion, and drive-by assassinations. It commits an assault
+or robbery every day in L.A. County. The gang has grown dramatically
+over the last two decades by recruiting recently arrived youngsters,
+most of them illegal, from Central America and Mexico.
+
+ Immigration and Customs Enforcement conservatively
+ puts the number of illegals in Mara Salvatrucha as a
+ ``majority;'' police officers, by contrast, assert that the
+ gang is overwhelmingly illegal.
+
+ Law enforcement officials estimate that 20% of gang
+ members in San Diego County are illegal, according to the
+ Union-Tribune.
+
+ The L.A. County Sheriff reported in 2000 that 23% of
+ inmates in county jails were deportable, according to the New
+ York Times.
+
+ The leadership of the Columbia Lil' Cycos gang, which
+ uses murder and racketeering to control the drug market around
+ Los Angeles's MacArthur Park, was about 60 percent illegal in
+ 2002. Francisco Martinez, a Mexican Mafia member and an illegal
+ alien, controlled the gang from prison, while serving time for
+ felonious reentry following deportation.
+
+ In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding
+ warrants for homicide in the first half of 2004 (which totaled
+ 1,200 to 1,500) targeted illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of
+ all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) were for illegal aliens.
+
+ The Los Angeles Police Department arrests about 2500
+ criminally-convicted deportees annually, reports the Los
+ Angeles Times.
+
+ Though the numbers of illegal gang members remain elusive, the
+evidence for the destructive effects of sanctuary laws is
+incontrovertible. In 2002, for example, four illegal Mexicans,
+accompanied by one legal immigrant, abducted and brutally raped a 42-
+year-old mother of two near some railroad tracks in Queens, New York.
+The New York Police Department had already arrested three of the
+illegal aliens numerous times for such crimes as assault, attempted
+robbery, criminal trespass, illegal gun possession, and drug offenses.
+But pursuant to New York's sanctuary policy, the department had never
+notified the INS.
+ Five months ago, Carlos Barrera, an illegal Mexican in Hollywood,
+Ca., mugged three people, burglarized two apartments, and tried to rape
+a five-year-old girl. Barrera had been deported four years ago after
+serving time for robbery, drugs, and burglary. Since his reentry
+following deportation, he had been stopped twice for traffic
+violations. But thanks to special order 40, the police had never
+mentioned him to the immigration authorities, reports the New York
+Times.
+ In September, 2003, the Miami police arrested a Honduran visa
+violator for seven vicious rapes. The previous year, Miami cops had had
+the suspect in custody for lewd and lascivious molestation. Pursuant to
+Miami's sanctuary law, however, the police had never checked his
+immigration status. Had they done so, they would have discovered his
+deportable status, and could have forestalled the rapes.
+ Cousins Aneceto and Jaime Reyes committed murder and a car-jacking,
+respectively, after returning to Los Angeles from Mexico following
+deportation. The Los Angeles police had encountered them before these
+most recent crimes, but had to wait for them to commit murder and a
+car-jacking before they could lay a finger on them for their
+immigration offenses, according to the New York Times.
+ The Los Angeles Police Department began revisiting special order 40
+last month. Its proposed revision merely underlines how perverse our
+attitudes towards illegal alien criminals remain.
+ Los Angeles's top brass propose to allow a Los Angeles officer who
+suspects that a criminal has previously been deported to contact his
+supervisor about the reentry felony. That supervisor would then contact
+ICE. ICE officials would next go before a federal judge to get an
+arrest warrant for the immigration felony. Then, with warrant in hand,
+the Los Angeles cop may finally arrest the felonious gangbanger-if he
+can still find him.
+ This burdensome procedure is preposterous. To arrest an American
+citizen for a crime, arrest warrants are rarely required; about 95% of
+arrests of citizens are warrantless. But in L.A., under the new rules,
+illegal criminals will have due process rights that citizens can only
+dream of: not just judicial review before they can be taken off the
+streets, but federal judicial review-the gold standard of all
+constitutional protections. Maybe home-grown criminals should renounce
+their citizenship and reenter the country illegally. It would be a
+constitutional windfall for them.
+ Other jurisdictions that are reconsidering their sanctuary laws are
+also proceeding with unnecessary timidity. The Orange County, Ca.,
+sheriff plans to train a few deputies to use immigration laws only for
+special enforcement actions against sexual predators or gangs, reports
+the Los Angeles Times. The Miami Police Department will join with ICE
+only on high-level gang cases.
+ These minor tinkerings all put unwise limitations on a vital law
+enforcement power. Local immigration enforcement power should not be
+limited to the felony of reentry following deportation. Nor should only
+a small subset of officers be authorized to use it. There are many
+illegal alien criminals who have not yet reentered following
+deportation, but who are just as dangerous to their communities. Every
+officer should have the power to enforce any immigration violation
+against a criminal suspect, not just immigration felonies.
+ Nothing demonstrates the necessity of this power better than ICE's
+March enforcement action against Mara Salvatrucha. Following the March
+round-up, ICE proudly displayed three of its trophy cases: the founding
+member of MS-13 in Hollywood, Ca., who had already been convicted for
+robbery and possession of a dangerous weapon; the leader of MS-13 in
+Long Branch, NJ, who had a prior criminal history of aggravated arson,
+weapons possession, grand larceny, and criminal possession of stolen
+property; and the founder of Port Washington, NY's, MS gang, who had a
+prior drug conviction.
+ ICE got all three of these leading gang bangers off the streets
+through what it calls administrative immigration violations, not felony
+immigration violations. Local officers in Hollywood, Long Branch, and
+Port Washington, as elsewhere, should have the power to use any type of
+immigration violation as well to get a thug (who may also prove to be a
+terrorist) off the street.
+ Immigration enforcement against criminals should also not wait upon
+a major federal-local gang initiative. The majority of opportunities to
+get criminals off the streets come from enforcing misdemeanors and
+quality of life offenses. While the police are waiting to make a major
+federal case against an illegal criminal, they are far more likely to
+have picked him up for a ``petty'' theft or an open-container offense.
+Officers should be empowered at every arrest or lawful stop to check
+someone's immigration status. If a suspect is committing an immigration
+offense, the officer should be empowered to arrest him immediately for
+that offense.
+ Jails and prisons should routinely check the immigration status of
+their prisoners. Such an initiative should not be dependent on the
+presence of an ICE officer stationed in a prison; there are simply not
+enough federal agents available to cover the relevant facilities.
+Moreover, ICE agents do not routinely visit local jails where
+misdemeanor offenders are held, yet those offenders may be as dangerous
+to the community as someone against whom a felony case has been made.
+Someone convicted of stealing a jacket today may be shooting a rival
+tomorrow. And many misdemeanor convicts in jails have been allowed to
+plead down from more serious felonies.
+ The standard argument for sanctuary laws is that they encourage
+illegal aliens to work with the police or seek government services.
+This argument is based on myth, not evidence. No illegal alien advocate
+has ever provided a shred of evidence that sanctuary laws actually
+accomplish their alleged ends. Nor has anyone shown that illegal aliens
+are even aware of sanctuary laws. The evidence for the destructive
+effects of sanctuary laws is clear, however.
+ The idea that sanctuary laws are ``pro-immigrant'' is perhaps the
+greatest myth of all. Keeping illegal criminals in the community
+subjects all immigrants to the thrall of crime and impedes economic
+growth in immigrant communities.
+ Obviously, the final prerequisite for ridding immigrant communities
+of illegal thugs is enough ICE detention space and deportation
+resources. But providing police officers with every lawful tool to
+fight crime is a crucial first step to protecting immigrant lives and
+should be the unanimous recommendation of the Subcommittee.
+
+ ATTACHMENT
+
+
+
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you, Ms. Mac Donald.
+ Ms. Fernandez.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF MAI FERNANDEZ, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, LATIN
+ AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER
+
+ Ms. Fernandez. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Members of
+the Committee. It is a pleasure to be here before you today to
+speak on the issues related to gang memberships and
+immigration.
+ Before I go into the substance of my testimony, I would
+like to tell you a bit about the Latin America Youth Center
+where I work. The Latin America Youth Center is based in D.C.
+in the Columbia Heights neighborhood just up the street on 14th
+and Columbia Road. It is a community-based, multicultural,
+multi-lingual youth and family development center. We provide
+many educational programs and tutoring for youth who are in
+school as well as GED and vocational training for those who
+have dropped out. Additionally, we offer substance abuse
+counseling for young people in need of these services and
+housing for homeless youth.
+ We serve about 3,000 youth through our programs. I think
+that it is safe to say that a majority of our youth are gang-
+involved or have been gang-involved. However, I need to point
+out that only a small number of our kids are involved in
+criminal activity.
+ Let me explain. Many of the parents of our youth immigrated
+to the United States to find safety and a better way of life.
+Upon arriving in the U.S., many of these adults find themselves
+in need of working two to three jobs to make ends meet. Keeping
+the family clothed, fed, and housed becomes the priority.
+Unfortunately, this means that children are not provided the
+supervision they need.
+ The lack of supervision often leads to boredom and a sense
+of insecurity which causes the children to join gangs. Joining
+a gang gives a youth a group of friends to hang out with and a
+sense of security they cannot elsewhere find in their lives.
+These kids are not super-predators. They are kids looking for a
+sense of belonging. Most of the youth who are in gangs are not
+criminals. It would be inappropriate to punish all immigrant
+youth who are in gangs by taking away their immigration status.
+ Having said this, I am a former prosecutor from Manhattan
+and do believe that when a gang member gets involved in
+criminal activity, there needs to be a decisive law enforcement
+response. Two years back, Columbia Heights, D.C., where I work,
+was plagued with a spree of gang-related murders. There was a
+swift law enforcement response which investigated the cases and
+apprehended the perpetrators. Several of these young people are
+now serving life sentences. The law enforcement response sent a
+clear message to other gang-involved youth: If you commit
+crimes, you will be punished.
+ After the spree of homicides, both the community and the
+police realized that they should not only respond to gang-
+related criminal activity, but should also work together to
+prevent it. As a result, the Gang Intervention Partnership, the
+GIP, was created. The GIP brings together police, probation
+officers, prosecutors, and community social service providers
+to develop intervention strategies for youth who are at high
+risk of committing crimes. What often occurs is that a
+community member will find out that a youth is in some kind of
+trouble. The members of the GIP come together to ensure that
+the youth is supervised and that he or she is involved in
+structured activities. If the youth faces real security
+problems, arrangements have been made that the youth be placed
+in a witness protection program. The outcome has been that
+there have been no gang-related homicides in Columbia Heights
+in the last 2 years.
+ I'd also like to make the point that a youth who has been
+involved in a gang-related criminal activity can turn around
+his or her life. At the Latin America Youth Center, we have
+several programs that work with youth who have a criminal
+record. We have reentry programs whereby probation officers
+assign us newly released youth, and we help them find jobs,
+educational opportunities, and counseling. In other instances,
+the youth come to us freely looking for opportunities to change
+their lives. Every year we graduate approximately 70 youth from
+our programs who have advanced their education and who are
+ready to find jobs.
+ Our community has been able to tailor an effective and
+appropriate response to gang-related crime in our area. This
+experience has brought me to believe that a Federal response to
+the gang issue may be inappropriate, particularly an
+immigration response. Although we still have a steady influx of
+immigrants coming to our community, the majority of youth are
+born in the United States. Consequently, an easier way of
+deporting youth would not solve our particular gang problem.
+ Moreover, the character of gangs can change from
+neighborhood to neighborhood, and it most definitely changes
+from State to State. I know that the panel here has talked to
+you about the atrocities of MS-13. Despite the MS-13's visible
+presence in Virginia, it has a very small presence in D.C. And
+I should add that the majority of our Latino youth are
+Salvadorean. Different tactics need to be used to address the
+gang problems in different jurisdictions. Federal solutions are
+too wide-sweeping to address the unique problems of a
+particular area.
+ Lastly, I'd like to point out that the gang situation in
+this country has to be kept in perspective. Despite the media
+attention received by the issue, serious youth crime has
+fallen. The most recent crime survey from the FBI's Uniform
+Crime reporting program that breaks down the age of people
+arrested for serious offenses in 2003 showed that the number of
+people under 18 arrested declined by 30 percent. Moreover,
+between 1993 and 2003, youth homicide arrests declined 75
+percent. Gang crime is serious, but the response needs to be
+proportionate to the problem. Enacting legislation that would
+imperil the immigration status of countless people but may have
+little effect on decreasing crime is not a wise response to the
+problem.
+ Thank you very much, and I am here to answer any questions.
+ [The prepared statement of Ms. Fernandez follows:]
+
+ Prepared Statement of Mai Fernandez
+
+ Good afternoon, Congressman Hostettler, Congresswoman Jackson Lee
+and members of the Committee. It is a pleasure to be before you today
+to speak on issues related to gang memberships and immigration.
+ Before I go into the substance of my testimony, I would like to
+tell you a bit about the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) where I
+work. The LAYC is based here in DC in the Columbia Heights
+neighborhood. It is a community-based, multi-cultural and multi-lingual
+youth and family development center. We provide many educational
+programs and tutoring for youth who are in school as well as GED and
+vocational training for those who have dropped out. Additionally, we
+offer substance abuse counseling for young people in need of those
+services and housing for homeless youth.
+ We serve about 3,000 youth through our programs. I think that it is
+safe to say that a majority are gang involved or have been gang
+involved at some point in their life. However, only a small number of
+our kids are involved in criminal activity.
+ Let me explain. Many of the parents of our youth immigrated to the
+United States to find safety and a better way of life for their
+children. Upon arriving in the U.S. many of these adults find
+themselves needing to work 2 to 3 jobs just to make ends meet. Keeping
+the family clothed, fed and housed becomes the priority. Unfortunately,
+this means that children are not provided the supervision that they
+need.
+ The lack of supervision often leads to boredom and a sense of
+insecurity which cause the children to join gangs. Joining a gang gives
+a youth a group of friends to hang out with, and a sense of security
+which they cannot get elsewhere in their lives. These kids are not
+super-predators--they are kids looking for a sense of belonging. Most
+youth who are in gangs are not criminals. It would be inappropriate to
+punish all immigrant youth who are in gangs by taking away their
+Temporary Protection Status.
+ Having said this, I am a former prosecutor from Manhattan, and do
+believe that when gang members get involved in criminal activity there
+needs to be a decisive law enforcement response. Two years back,
+Columbia Heights, D.C., where I work, was plagued with a spree of gang
+related murders. There was a swift law enforcement response which
+investigated the cases and apprehended the perpetrators. Several of
+these young people are now serving life sentences. The law enforcement
+response sent a clear message to other gang involved youth--if you
+commit crimes you will be punished.
+ After the spree of homicides, both the community and the police
+realized that they should not only respond to gang related criminal
+activity, but should also work together to prevent it. As a result the
+Gang Intervention Partnership--the GIP--was created. The GIP brings
+together police, probation officers, prosecutors and community social
+service providers to develop intervention strategies for youth who are
+highly at risk of committing crimes. What often occurs is that a
+community member will find out that a youth is in some kind of trouble.
+The members of the GIP come together to ensure that the youth is
+supervised and that he/she is involved in structured activities. If the
+youth faces real security problems arrangements have been made to place
+the youth in witness protection programs. The outcome has been that
+there have been no gang-related homicides in Columbia Heights in the
+last two years.
+ I'd also like to make the point that a youth who has been involved
+in gang-related criminal activity can turn around his/her life. At the
+Latin American Youth Center we have several programs that work with
+youth who have a criminal record. We have re-entry programs where by
+probation officers assign us newly released youth and we help them find
+jobs, education opportunities and counseling. In other instances, the
+youth come to us freely looking for opportunities to change their
+lives. Every year we graduate approximately 70 youth from our programs
+who have advanced their education and who are ready to find jobs.
+ Our community has been able to tailor an effective and appropriate
+response to gang-related crime in our area. This experience has brought
+me to believe that a federal response to the gang issue maybe
+inappropriate--particularly an immigration response. Although, we still
+have a steady influx of immigrants coming to our community, the
+majority of our youth are born in the United States. Consequently, an
+easier way of deporting youth would not solve our gang problem.
+ Moreover, the character of gangs can change from neighborhood to
+neighborhood and it most definitely changes from state to state. I know
+that many of you have heard about the atrocities committed by MS13
+members. Despite MS13's visible presence in Virginia, it has a very
+small presence in DC. Different tactics need to be used to address the
+gang problems in different jurisdictions. Federal solutions are too
+wide sweeping to address the unique problems of a particular area.
+ Lastly, I'd like to point out that the gang situation in this
+country has to be kept in perspective. Despite the media attention
+received by this issue, serious youth crime has fallen. The most recent
+crime survey from the FBI's Uniform Crime reporting program that breaks
+down the age of people arrested for serious offense in 2003 showed that
+the number of people under 18 arrested declined by 30%. Moreover,
+between 1993 and 2003, youth homicide arrests declined by 75%. Gang
+crime is serious but the response needs to be proportionate to the
+problem. Enacting legislation that would imperil the immigration status
+of countless people but may have little effect in decreasing crime is
+not a wise response to this problem.
+ Thank you for your time. I am available to answer questions at this
+time.
+
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you, Ms. Fernandez.
+ The Subcommittee will now recess for approximately 30
+minutes. We have two votes in the House, and I assume we will
+be 30 to 35 minutes, and we appreciate your indulgence.
+ We are recessed.
+ [Recess.]
+ Mr. Hostettler. The Subcommittee will come to order. We
+will now turn to questions from Members of the Subcommittee.
+The Chair recognizes himself for 5 minutes.
+ Secretary Garcia, nationals of three countries that are
+reportedly sources of large numbers of gang members--Nicaragua,
+Honduras, and El Salvador--currently are eligible for temporary
+protected status, or TPS, in the United States. This
+Subcommittee has been told that two of three purported gang
+members accused of raping two deaf girls in a Massachusetts
+park in 2002 were Salvadorans who had applied for temporary
+protected status. How many criminal gang members that ICE has
+arrested in its anti-gang efforts had TPS?
+ Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will use the
+Operation Community Shield universe, so to speak, and that was
+5,000 members, gang members in a database that we compiled for
+Operation Community Shield. Of that number, the following
+numbers of aliens had been granted temporary protected status:
+for El Salvador, 291; for Honduras, 43; and for Nicaragua, one.
+So somewhere in the neighborhood of 350.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you. Have TPS grants to nationals of
+those three countries made it more difficult for ICE to use the
+immigration laws to remove alien gang members from the United
+States? And if so, in what ways?
+ Mr. Garcia. If someone has been granted TPS, in order to
+remove them from the United States, in effect to take away that
+status, you have to show certain criminal convictions.
+ In the case of Operation Community Shield, ICE had arrested
+three gang members who had TPS status. In spite of that status,
+they are subject to removal. So it really depends on the
+history, particularly the criminal history, of the particular
+gang member.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you.
+ Ms. Mac Donald, in your testimony, you state that,
+``Sanctuary laws are a serious impediment to stemming gang
+violence.'' In what ways do sanctuary laws impede law
+enforcement's anti-gang efforts?
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Sanctuary laws impede local law
+enforcement's anti-gang effort because they deprive cops of
+often their only tool to get a gang member off the street. As I
+said, it's often very difficult to build a typical criminal
+case against a gang member because a witness fears that he's
+going to get shot if he testifies against him.
+ We've learned in New York City that the best way to fight
+crime is to use every single law on the books. Mayor Giuliani
+brought crime down 70 percent by using things like turnstile-
+jumping laws, the graffiti laws, and he found that there's a
+great chain of being in criminal activity. Somebody who is
+stealing a coat one day is shooting somebody the next day, or
+somebody who's spraying graffiti one day is robbing somebody of
+their wallet in Central Park the next day.
+ Somebody who is in the country illegally and is committing
+crime, if you can leverage that immigration offense now to get
+him off the streets, to my mind it's insane to require the
+police department to laboriously build up a criminal case
+against them because that may never happen. We all know that a
+huge majority of crimes never get reported. Police officers in
+L.A., in particular, chafe every single day under Special Order
+40 because they know how it ties their hands to making
+communities safe.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you. In your testimony, you discuss
+the need for resources to deal with this issue of gang
+violence. Last year, in the National Intelligence Reform Act,
+we included provisions that the President signed into law
+calling for effectively tripling the number of ICE agents,
+4,000 over 5 years; doubling the number of Border Patrol
+agents, 10,000 more over the next 5 years; and tripling the
+number of detention beds, 40,000 over the next 5 years.
+ Do you think these resources would be helpful in this fight
+against gang violence?
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Chairman Hostettler, they're essential.
+They're absolutely essential. I've talked to border agents,
+especially on the Canadian border, who are picking up the
+category of OTMs on a weekly basis, other than Mexicans,
+Bangladeshis, Iranians. They have no idea who these guys are.
+They have no place to put them, and it's catch-and-release
+policy. They catch them and they release them. They say,
+Please, Mr. Illegal Alien, show up in 6 months for your
+deportation hearing.
+ We all know what happens. Eighty-five percent never show up
+again, and people from terrorist-sponsoring countries have
+about a 96-percent no-show rate.
+ So giving police or ICE greater resources to arrest people
+for immigration crimes is meaningless if we simply release them
+back into the country. And I cannot understand why the Bush
+administration has not followed the will of Congress in that in
+budgeting for the positions and the beds that Congress so
+clearly passed in the intelligence reform bill.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank you.
+ At this time the Chair now recognizes the gentlelady from
+Texas, the Ranking Member, for purposes of an opening statement
+and questions.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman, first of all, thank you very
+much for yielding me the time, and let me for the open record
+indicate that I serve on two Committees dealing with this
+question. And at the beginning of the hearing, I was in the
+Homeland Security Committee with the new Secretary. And
+inasmuch as that was our first time with him on some very
+important management issues and policy issues, I ask and thank
+the Committee for its indulgence, and thank you very much for
+the opportunity for my opening statement.
+ Mr. Chairman, what I would like--I see that there's another
+Member here. I'd like to give the opening statement and then
+have you yield to the other Member for his questioning, and
+then I'll come back to my questioning at that time. Thank you
+very much.
+ It seems that we have been encountering the question of
+immigrants, immigration, and a series of changes that have come
+about over the last couple of weeks. The border States in the
+Northern border and Texas in particular in the Southern border
+are up in arms about new policies suggesting that passports
+need to be utilized for what has been a comfortable
+relationship in those States, partly in the United States in
+terms of commerce and exchange. But we realize that it's
+important for policies to be established so that we can in a
+comprehensive manner secure our borders and secure the
+homeland.
+ As we look at the different issues, I think that it is
+important to establish priority for what is important.
+Obviously, someone in the policy sector thought that as an
+expansion of the 9/11 intelligence bill that possibly the use
+of passports might be helpful. I, on the other hand, question
+whether or not another focus could be utilized to ensure that
+people who cross the border, at least those who are interested
+or involved in commerce, might be able to use another document
+and be more flexible.
+ This speaks in particular to where we are today on this
+particular hearing. I wonder whether or not this is a crisis,
+whether this is an emergency, whether or not this is not an
+area that could be handled in a totally different way or over
+an extended period of time to review what has become, I
+understand, an increasing membership in gangs.
+ I recall some maybe 10, almost 15 years ago being a member
+of the Houston City Council, and our own youngsters were
+engaged in gang activity. It was raging all over the nation. We
+began to use what I think Ms. Fernandez has mentioned--
+intervention. And it's interesting that you mentioned, Ms.
+Fernandez, that the participation in crime among adolescents
+and youth has substantially gone down, as I understand your
+testimony. So allow me just to share a few thoughts about this
+particular hearing and what I think needs to be a balanced
+approach.
+ The Department of Justice has mentioned that we have more
+than 25,000 gangs in the United States. The most recent
+national youth gang survey indicates that there are more than
+750,000 gang members. Some of these gangs resemble organized
+crime syndicates. They commit gun violence, gun trafficking,
+drug trafficking, and other serious crimes.
+ Needless to say, I'm not diminishing the impact of gangs
+and that they can be extremely dangerous. I certainly am
+reminded of what I think was an urban gang, a citizen-based
+gang, if you will, that plagued the streets of Baltimore and
+caused the loss of life of a mother, a father, and five of her
+children, only because she wanted to stand up to them and told
+the police that they were trafficking drugs in the community.
+ I am not here to promote the Gang for a Day Program. But
+the gang we hear most about at this hearing is, of course, the
+MS-13. Composed mainly of Salvadoreans and other Central
+Americans, this gang has an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 members
+in the United States. MS-13 was established in Los Angeles in
+the 1980's by Salvadoreans fleeing from a civil war. When they
+came to Los Angeles, Mexican gangs preyed on them. The response
+was to band together in a mara or posse, and it was to engage
+in, if you will, conflict.
+ According to the ICE Bureau, the need to respond to the
+proliferation of MS-13 gangs is becoming a public safety
+priority. In January of 2005, ICE launched Operation Community
+Shield. The goal of this operation is to dismantle the MS-13
+organization by targeting its members' financial assets, et
+cetera.
+ To do this, ICE will bring to bear all of its law
+enforcement investigative powers, including criminal
+prosecution, immigration authorities, financial investigation,
+asset seizures. ICE will work with partners in the Federal law
+enforcement community, including U.S. Attorney's Offices, the
+FBI, DEA, ATF, and ICE will also work with foreign governments
+to identify known gang members. ICE agents have arrested more
+than 135 MS-13 gang members nationwide.
+ The gang problem is being addressed at the local level,
+too. In 1997, the Fairfax Police Department made youth gang
+crime a priority and established a Gang Investigation Unit. In
+2003, funding from the U.S. Congress enabled the creation of a
+Northern Virginia Gang Task Force, and that task force worked
+very closely with ICE.
+ It is important to emphasize that Northern Virginia does
+not limit its effort to law enforcement activities. The task
+force also does public education, awareness presentations,
+provides gang activity awareness training to school resource
+officers and Fairfax County Public School personnel, and has
+established diversion programs such as GREAT, Gang Resistance
+Education and Training.
+ I'm pleased to also acknowledge that out of the siege of
+gangs in Houston, we established a gang office and gang task
+force.
+ I say that in conclusion to acknowledge this--and might I
+say, Mr. Garcia, that the Secretary was very complementary of
+ICE and the enforcement activities when I probed him about the
+funding problems with ICE. He has offered that he looks forward
+to raising the profile of ICE. And when we hear about what
+they've done in this gang effort, I too applaud this.
+ My problem is that if we have this hearing to write more
+legislation, to take young people who are associating with
+gangs for the very reason that Ms. Fernandez has said, to be
+part of something, to find a family base, to find comfort in a
+foreign land, then I think we're doing the wrong thing.
+ Many of these individuals who are not citizens may, in
+fact, however, have come here in very early life. That means
+the same problem that we had when we passed the 1996
+immigration reform bill where one strike, one criminal
+incident, one juvenile incident caused individuals to be
+prospectively deported to places where they had never lived,
+this to me is the beginning of a wrong direction.
+ I believe if there is a consistent criminal history of some
+gang member, then rightly so on a case-by-base basis a
+determination of deportation can be made. But if this is a web
+of--if you will, sort of a fishnet being thrown out to the
+local gang on the street corner, and in comes 13-year-olds and
+14-year-olds and 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds
+who are associated by a membership or a desire to belong or
+because they don't speak the language here in the United
+States, then I think we make a grave mistake by yielding and
+allowing those intervention efforts to be utilized and passing
+massive immigration reform that includes--and I've been sort of
+generous with my words--immigration laws. I don't consider it
+reform--and start labeling and deporting masses of young people
+in an unnecessary effort.
+ And so, Mr. Chairman, I welcome this hearing, but I hope
+that we will have a hearing on the President's guest worker
+program that I think needs more than tinkering with. I hope
+we'll have a hearing on my earned access to legalization and
+comprehensive reform which allows undocumented aliens in the
+United States to be able to stand in line and access
+legalization.
+ I hope we will complete the CASE Act, which part of the
+legislation that's dealing with anti-smuggling, got into the
+intelligence bill, but I believe that we need to put in place a
+reward system that will allow more evidence to come in and more
+information to come in to stop smuggling of individuals into
+the United States. This, I think, speaks to real immigration
+reform.
+ So I look forward to questioning the witnesses, and at the
+time of my questioning, I will submit into the record or ask to
+the submit into the record a letter from the city of Houston
+Anti-Gang Task Force. I look forward to working with you, but
+let's look at the crisis and the serious issues and let's try
+to find common ground on issues like this.
+ I yield back.
+ Mr. Hostettler. I thank the gentlelady.
+ The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Iowa, Mr. King,
+for 5 minutes.
+ Mr. King. I thank the Chair, and I thank the witnesses for
+their testimony today.
+ As I listened to this testimony, there are a few things
+that caused me to raise my eyebrows, and I thought I had a feel
+and an understanding of some of the magnitude. But as we
+debated the gang act earlier in full Committee and as I
+listened to your testimony and Ms. Garst, as I recall that
+testimony, say gangs are about 75 percent illegals in the
+region that you would be familiar with, and as I see some of
+your--I think your written testimony says that about 50 percent
+may well be El Salvadoreans. And if I remember correctly, Ms.
+Mac Donald, you may have stated that in the high 90th
+percentile was illegal gang activity in the region that you're
+familiar with. Would that still be correct? Did I get that
+right?
+ Ms. Mac Donald. I think the number you're referring to is
+95 percent of outstanding homicide warrants in Los Angeles.
+ Mr. King. I do recall that statement.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Are illegal aliens, right. But according to
+police, say, something like MS is overwhelmingly illegal, far
+more than a mere majority.
+ Mr. King. So would that number be in the 90's, would you
+expect?
+ Ms. Mac Donald. I would say, yes.
+ Mr. King. And I know that's probably impossible to nail
+that down factually.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. You know, the sanctuary laws prevent us
+from knowing that, and, of course, the denominator is unknown
+either because we don't really know the number of gangs,
+period. So it's all a speculation game.
+ Mr. King. Another piece that came out of the testimony is
+that even if that number were 100 percent illegals involved in
+gang activity--I don't expect that they're actively and
+aggressively recruiting others, which would be American
+citizens, children, our children who are being victimized by
+this kind of gang activity, and I'd just ask you this: In an
+ideal world, the world I thought I grew up in, we would have
+enforced these laws a long time ago. And could you maybe just--
+by the look on your face, maybe you speculated the same thing,
+and I'd ask you to paint the picture of the way the world would
+be if we had gone back 20 years and enforced our immigration
+laws the way we all expected that we would.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Well, I think you would have more respect
+for the rule of law. You would not have the smuggling trade if
+people in countries bordering us knew that when they came to
+this country illegally, they were not entering a safe zone. You
+would not have criminal syndicates able to get across the
+border because the demand wouldn't be there.
+ The failure over decades to enforce laws on the books has
+given rise to the fact that we now have, since 9/11, made no
+progress in controlling illegal immigration. This is a scandal.
+A terrorist cannot commit damage on our soil if he's not here.
+But we have not been able to stop the half a million net that
+come across the border every year. And that's because we have
+decided not to enforce immigration laws for decades.
+Republicans haven't enforced them; Democrats haven't enforced
+them. And this has basically sent a message to the world that
+if you can cross our border, you're home free.
+ Mr. King. Thank you, Ms. Mac Donald.
+ And, Ms. Garst, would you inform this Committee as to what
+ICE would need to do to deport an alien gang member who has
+been granted asylum?
+ Ms. Garst. The position that we're put in, sir, is
+unenviable, and that often we don't know the status until we're
+at a bond hearing on a criminal charge. Then we are blessed now
+by Congressman Goodlatte to have local ICE agents. When I began
+my prosecution career in 1994, we had no support in that
+regard. We would call the local office here.
+ What we do is contact our local ICE agents. A number of
+hearings are held. Our primary concern on our level, on a
+small, rural, local level is can I hold these individuals
+without bond on violent crimes. And I will tell you, unless we
+can get a very fast answer regarding their immigration status,
+often they're not held and they're bonded.
+ So we don't even get to the deportation process in many
+cases.
+ Mr. King. I have another question that I'm very curious
+about, and that is this culture of the illegal ethnic enclave
+that tends to be a community. Has that culture of that illegal
+ethnic enclave, has that been the environment that has produced
+this gang violence? Ms. Mac Donald first.
+ Ms. Mac Donald. Yes, it's a very odd type of underclass
+that we're generating. You have guys that are working as day
+laborers during the day, and then they gang-bang at night. And
+the police basically, you know, know where they're getting off
+their pizza parlor job, and then they go join their gang
+members and sometimes, as Ms. Jackson Lee suggests, it's simply
+community activity, but often it's criminal activity.
+ And what you're seeing, as you yourself suggested, second
+and third generation immigrants at an ever younger age are also
+getting sucked up into the gang culture.
+ Mr. King. Thank you.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Mr. Hostettler. The gentleman's time has expired.
+ The Chair now recognizes the Ranking Member for 5 minutes
+for questions.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much.
+ Ms. Fernandez, why don't I start with you. You've heard the
+exasperation, I think, of Ms. Mac Donald and Ms. Garst with
+respect to the violence or the criminal activity. I'm opposed
+to a broad brush to that--to those representations. I do
+believe that we've got to find ways of enforcing immigration
+laws or finding laws to enforce. At the same time, I believe
+that there is danger to broad-brushing these groups known as
+gangs and also danger in a broad-brush removal, for example, of
+a TPS status rather than looking at the pattern of the
+individual's activity or looking at it maybe on a case-by-case
+determination.
+ Tell me again through your testimony how you would--how you
+would help decipher, if you would, how you would part the
+waters on who could be saved, what intervention does versus the
+criminal activity that the two other witnesses are speaking of.
+ Ms. Fernandez. Thank you. Prior to coming here, I met with
+the Gang Task Force, which is--the Metropolitan Police
+Department has a Gang Task Force here. And I said, okay, truly,
+what do you think has stopped the fact--the homicides in the
+Columbia Heights area, because if any of you were watching the
+Washington Post, the news 2 years back, we just had kid after
+kid after kid killed. And they said we have 85 of the gang
+heads in prison right now, five of which are serving life
+sentences. That is a very decisive law enforcement response,
+which I completely and totally agree with. Those kids have
+committed horrible crimes, and they should be in prison.
+ However, we've got lots of young people, young adults that
+are working for us, that are with us, that have been in one way
+or another associated with a gang. And so if you lump murderers
+and kids who want to be cool and say that they're a member of a
+gang because it's cool when you're 16, 17 years old to say that
+you're part of something that's bigger than yourself, then you
+can't lump those two groups of people together. One's a
+teenager and the other one's a criminal. And you have to have
+different kinds of interventions for both. One's a very strict
+law enforcement intervention. The other one is let's find
+something for you to do, remain cool and remain feeling like
+you're belonging to something, but yet let's not put you in a
+category where we're going to throw you into a category of
+criminals.
+ You know, I also need to take some issue with what Ms. Mac
+Donald said, that, you know, we've got day laborers that are
+then becoming gang members. That may be true in certain
+specific instances, but if anybody has worked as a day laborer
+where you're laying bricks every day, probably chances are that
+in your evening job you don't have the energy to pick up and
+then start doing gang activity. Most--many of our parents, many
+of the people who we work with, work two to three jobs. They're
+the people who clean, you know, offices at night. They're the
+people who do work that other people in this country don't want
+to do.
+ So I think that we've got to be very careful of lumping
+everybody with a Latino surname into the category of a person
+who's doing bad. So I think that we've got to be very careful
+of not doing broad-brush type sweeps.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Garcia, if you would, we've made a
+very strong point in separating responsibilities of the Federal
+Government from State government, and one of those has been
+immigration. That is a Federal responsibility. We forged the
+Homeland Security Committee--excuse me, Homeland Security
+Department in order to bring more focus on immigration and
+other aspects of securing the homeland.
+ If we were to change the sanctuary laws and begin to engage
+local law enforcement of every level, I would think that maybe
+the good work that Ms. Fernandez discovered at the Washington
+Metropolitan Police Department might not have been such good
+work because, frankly, law enforcement locally, whether they're
+constables or sheriffs, are overburdened. Is it the position of
+the Justice Department to want to rid the system of the
+sanctuary laws and begin to pierce into local jurisdictions for
+them to begin to do Federal immigration work? First question.
+ The second question is, which plays into this: If we are to
+blanket the war or the fight against gangs, which, as Ms.
+Fernandez has said, would come in all shapes and sizes, some of
+them will have a violent history and should be incarcerated.
+You indicated a criminal history. Should we be blanketing
+treatment toward them on the basis of overall violent acts? If
+we are to do that--then this may not have the nexus that I'd
+like it to have--what do we do about citizens who are taking up
+arms on the Arizona border and setting themselves up
+independently to be of assistance, albeit out of frustration?
+If we lose control over one, we lose control over another.
+ Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Congresswoman. Your first question,
+certainly immigration enforcement is a Federal responsibility.
+There are statutes that States and local jurisdictions can take
+advantage of to actually participate in the enforcement of
+immigration law in a formal way, under 287(g) as the provision.
+Florida has taken advantage of that statute, as has Alabama. So
+there's a legal mechanism for actually State and local
+officials to get training from the Department of Homeland
+Security, from ICE, and become in essence deputized under our
+supervision, again, with the appropriate training and go out
+and enforce the----
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. And that's the choice of that particular
+jurisdiction.
+ Mr. Garcia. Opt in, so to speak, that's correct, in certain
+jurisdictions. I believe L.A. County recently has passed
+legislation to do that as well.
+ So there are specific provisions for affirmative
+enforcement by local jurisdictions.
+ In terms of the sanctuary laws and piercing the sanctuary
+laws, I have some trouble understanding the concept. We enforce
+the law. We have good working relationships with State and
+local jurisdictions. There are natural partnerships there. Some
+jurisdictions, mainly at a political level, have passed
+statements and representations that they are sanctuaries in
+terms of immigration law. As an overall matter I think it's a
+very bad message, but I don't know what the specific impact
+would be within the jurisdiction on our enforcement
+capabilities. We would still go in. We would still have the
+right to enforce the law, whatever law, immigration law in this
+case, in those jurisdictions, and we do that.
+ And in most cases--and I come from New York--I know we have
+a very good working relationship with the NYPD up there, and
+there are many ways in which our interests intersect in
+enforcement. So I'm not sure what it would mean in terms of
+piercing sanctuary laws. You know, we look at each
+jurisdiction, we exercise our authorities, and we always seek
+to work with our partners.
+ In terms of the Minutemen, I believe you're speaking about
+on the Arizona border, the Department of Homeland Security has
+come out very strongly against any vigilantism. It's
+distracting resources on the border for us to have to watch the
+watcher, so to speak. Very fortunate and very grateful that
+there have been no violent incidents on the border, but----
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Grateful is the word.
+ Mr. Garcia. But the situation is being monitored very
+carefully primarily by Customs and Border Protection with the
+Border Patrol and other assets down at the border. And again,
+as you point out, borne of frustration as well, but we're
+keeping a careful eye on that.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. On those sanctuary laws--just as a final
+point, on these sanctuary laws, you are still doing the Federal
+task of enforcing immigration laws. I think the point that I
+was making is that we write legislation to eliminate or to
+pierce an individual State's determination about how they want
+to not be engaged in that. You know, we are pressing upon State
+jurisdictions by any Federal law the responsibility of the
+Federal Government. That's just my point.
+ Mr. Garcia. You're saying it's odd to have a Federal law
+that a State law says we're not going to enforce or allow
+anyone to enforce the law. So as again, I said, I think the
+sanctuary laws are a very bad message. I think luckily we've
+been able to forge relationships in most jurisdictions.
+ Mr. Hostettler. I thank the gentlelady.
+ The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Virginia, Mr.
+Goodlatte, for 5 minutes.
+ Mr. Goodlatte. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
+ Ms. Garst, you noted in your testimony that the number of
+victims of gang violence, a number of them have been reluctant
+to come forward because of their illegal status, and I wonder
+if you might comment on that and tell us what you think the
+United States could do to help make that easier for you to get
+the cooperation of illegal aliens?
+ Ms. Garst. One of the heartbreaking situations that we face
+in prosecution are very violent cases like the case of the
+young girl whose brother was a Sureno-13 member and was stabbed
+by MS-13. Not only did she not receive medical care because her
+family would not take her to the hospital for fear of police
+intervention, but it was only when a teacher and a guidance
+counselor saw her openly having the wounds, that we even got to
+hear about the case. They would not let her speak to the police
+about the case in any detail. They would not permit testimony
+and actually refused any cooperation whatsoever because not
+just the legal status but also gang ties.
+ One of the issues that we discussed and Sergeant Rush and I
+have discussed, we even had a homicide regarding many illegal
+witnesses that would not come forward and the result was an
+acquittal. And the sad situation in that case was certainly had
+we been able to send a message that our local ICE agents have
+told us that, look, if you're a victim of crime, we're not
+targeting you for deportation.
+ There has to be a public awareness or education campaign
+that we can get into the community and let people know, and
+we've started doing on a smaller scale, as you're aware, at the
+local poultry industry and also at schools, and as you
+participated in our gang forum at our local high school, is to
+educate the community that, yes, what Congresswoman Lee is
+talking about, intervention through Boys and Girls Club is
+there, and that also prosecution is there to help you when
+you're a victim. When you're a victim of the home invasion when
+a gang member comes in and holds you at gunpoint and takes your
+jewelry or demands money, we will be there to help you. If
+there is a way that ICE can help us, perhaps, I don't know,
+through pamphlets in a bilingual way, to help people know that
+the criminal justice system will be there for when they're
+victims as well.
+ We have been seeing some limited success in cases, where
+people of illegal status have come forward in a recent case, as
+I had told you and Senator Warner, but it's been a great
+struggle.
+ Mr. Goodlatte. Have you been able to work with the
+immigration authorities? Have you talked to them about this
+concern and have they offered any----
+ Ms. Garst. We have, and they have told us that their focus
+is not on victims of crime, that they are not focusing on
+illegal victims of crime. But I will be very earnest with you,
+Congressman, there is a distrust somewhat of ICE certainly
+within the community, so it will be very important for us to
+continue to forge the relationship that we need to to help the
+illegal alien. But what's important is the gang members know
+this and they are picking people that are illegal to prey on
+them, to go into their homes, because just in the case of the
+stabbing and the home invasion that we spoke about regarding
+them going into the home, the MS-13 members, they know these
+people will, one, either not report, or two, not testify. So
+they're home free.
+ Mr. Goodlatte. Let me ask you. In your testimony you've
+mentioned--I found this very interesting--that gangs, rival
+gangs were attempting to recruit children as young as second
+graders. Why are gangs interested in people that young?
+ Ms. Garst. That is the greatest fear that we have in our
+community. I'm working very closely, I'm on the Board of
+Directors of the Boys and Girls Club, and a lot of this
+information has been verified through teachers in the school
+system. What happens is, as Ms. Fernandez spoke about, many of
+these people are working two and three jobs, and the children
+are relying on community members to help in the evenings and
+other things or programs. What these gang members are doing in
+our community--and I can only speak on our community, and again
+I think it is different in other places--are coming in and
+selecting children at an early age to be the banner carriers,
+to tell other people about the gang, to pledge their loyalty
+early.
+ They're actually even--we have instances of children within
+elementary schools actually beating up other students who had
+family members or themselves were showing other gang signs.
+What they're doing is they're recruiting at an early age to set
+the stage for other criminal activity, and it's not so much
+that these children are criminal gang members yet, they're
+being primed for that. They're being taught the gang system.
+They're being taught the gang loyalties. And what we're seeing
+locally is that they're sending these kids to do the
+vandalisms, to do the break-ins because they know that the
+juvenile system will not be as tough on these children, and
+therefore the gang will be much better off because they
+continue to perpetuate their profit motive.
+ Mr. Goodlatte. Thank you. I believe my time has expired.
+ Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank the gentleman.
+ The Chair now recognizes the gentlelady from California,
+Ms. Waters, for 5 minutes.
+ Ms. Waters. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and Members.
+For this session of Congress I asked to serve on this Committee
+because I come from Los Angeles, a city, a district and an area
+where we have a growing number of immigrants. We have legal
+immigrants and we have illegal immigrants. We have a very, very
+complicated problem in the greater Los Angeles area, and in
+some communities it's about to explode.
+ In the South Los Angeles area it is about to be a
+confrontation between black and Mexican gangs. The Mexican
+gangs are directed from inside the prisons. I've heard nobody
+talk about the influence of the Mexican mafia or the prisons on
+what is going on on the street. The territories that are being
+fought over are being decided by the leaders inside the
+prisons. And as many of the Mexican gangs advance into the
+black neighborhoods to take over these territories, they are
+simply killing each other. They just--now it's not even who are
+you and where are you from? They're just walking up and
+shooting dead in the head, Mexicans shooting blacks and blacks
+shooting Mexicans. And I'm told, just as a few days ago, by
+folks on the street that it is about to get really bad because
+the black gangs, the Bloods and the CRIPS are about to combine
+to face off with the Mexican gangs that are being directed from
+inside the prisons.
+ So as I sit here and I listen to all of this, I just
+can't--I just wonder if we really understand what is going on
+and how bad it is. I mean it is, it is bad. And while we talk
+about--we try to talk about it in ways that certainly will
+protect people's rights, that will not simply just drag young
+people into a broad net, as it is being referred to. We got to
+do something, we got to do something.
+ I am very angry at the Administration for not protecting
+the border. I'm very angry that the President of the United
+States, who promised 2,000 more border guards, came up with 200
+in the budget. I just think this business about whether or not
+we're protecting the border cannot be played with politically.
+You know, this Administration, or given that it is the
+Administration, I wouldn't care whether it was a Democrat or
+Republican administration, we're going to have to do something
+to protect the border.
+ And let me tell you what's wrong with the gang members from
+across the border who are causing problems. They're
+apprehended, and if they're not apprehended if they commit a
+crime, they're crossing back and forth across the border. They
+leave and they come back because we don't have any protection
+on the border.
+ I would hope that everybody would be frightened enough, I
+mean absolutely frightened enough about what is going on and
+how it is spiraling out of control, that some very decisive
+action is taken which will include some harsh measures. Again,
+you know, like I said earlier, you don't get any more liberal
+than I am. I mean I'm a liberal with a big L, okay? And I
+proudly say it. And my life has been about protecting people's
+rights, about making sure that we have a criminal justice
+system that just doesn't incarcerate innocent people. I don't
+want innocent people incorporated, but we've got gang bangers,
+black, white, and I want to tell you we had Jamaican gangs,
+some of the worst. I mean drug dealing killers. I want them off
+the street. I don't care where they come from. I don't care if
+they're black, green, purple, white, I want them off the
+street. I'm sick and tired or what is going on in Los Angeles
+in my community. I'm sick and tired of law enforcement not
+being able to make sense out of this. I'm sick and tired of
+people who commit crimes over and over again, and the gangs
+that are walking up shooting people in the head remaining on
+the street.
+ Now, I guess we can pontificate and we can sit in these
+Committees all day long, but unless Democrats and Republicans
+alike are willing to join hands, say to this Administration, we
+want the resources on the border, we want the border protected,
+we want to go after the gang dealers. They call them shot
+callers, the shot callers. Everybody knows who they are.
+They're making the decisions. I want to know why don't we have
+the information from the prisons to know who's sending their
+orders out on the streets. I never hear that talked about. It's
+time to get serious about this business. It is time to get very
+serious about the business.
+ And that's all I have to say. I'm not trying to relate to
+this flimflam. That's all I have to say.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Thank the gentlelady.
+ The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from California for
+5 minutes, Mr. Lungren.
+ Mr. Lungren. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Many of us have been involved in this effort on trying to
+deal with gangs for a long time, and Ms. Fernandez's suggestion
+that it needs to be an all-encompassing approach is absolutely
+true. I had a gang prevention task force where we brought
+people from all disciplines together to try and figure out what
+it was, and we came up, as many people have, with tougher
+penalties, but we also came up with an effort to give young
+people who would otherwise be attracted to gangs alternatives.
+I mean I read these analyses of what gangs are all about and
+from the National Alliance of Gang Investigators Association.
+There seems to be a consistency or consensus on the fact that
+in many cases, gangs take the place of other authority figures,
+particularly family and adults. These kids sometimes get into
+these gangs because they're looking for that which they won't
+find anywhere else--discipline in a very strange way,
+reinforcement in a very strange way. And we have been trying to
+deal with that.
+ That is primarily a local and State responsibility. There's
+no doubt about it. We have more cops on the local and State
+level than we'll ever have on the Federal level.
+ But to exacerbate that problem with illegal alien gang
+members is obviously to make it just far far worse, and it is a
+question that I've often thought of. We spend so much time
+setting up cops programs where we try and take credit for
+getting police officers on the street; and then we don't fund
+our border patrol, and we don't do internal enforcement.
+ So, Mr. Garcia, I would like to ask you if you could give
+me an idea why we haven't enforced employer sanctions? I was
+the Republican floor manager of the Simpson-Mazzoli bill in
+1987. We thought that employer sanctions would be half of the
+balance that they would allow us to have that hook into the
+attraction, or the magnet, that draws most people here. Most
+people don't come here for welfare benefits. They come here to
+find a job--jobs that Americans have not or will not take.
+ So we thought employer sanctions would be a way of doing
+it. And yet--I'm not trying to find fault with this
+Administration because it's been Democrat and Republican
+administrations, Democrat and Republican Congresses that
+haven't done it, but I just wonder, from your standpoint as a
+former prosecutor and your standpoint as the Assistant
+Secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whether you
+can give me some insight into that?
+ Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Congressman. I'll try. Certainly we
+do employer sanctions, and certainly it's a problem, and you're
+absolutely right in the expression of your frustration and also
+in the expression of it as the magnet or an attraction for
+people coming into the United States. And certainly it's
+somewhat a resource issue, as you point out. We have to use our
+resources as effectively as possible, whether it's public
+safety and gangs and predators or whether it's employer
+sanctions. So what do we do? We go after a number of employers
+on different levels, either large employers where we'll have
+the greatest impact, and there are a number of cases recently
+lumped under the Wal-Mart heading which actually involved Wal-
+Mart in a civil settlement and contractors for Wal-Mart in a
+criminal settlement with the Government, as a case leading to a
+program that will hopefully get people to voluntarily comply
+with the employment regulations.
+ We look at critical industries. There's been a number of
+cases recently that have gotten attention by ICE under the
+umbrella of Operation Tarmac. So you're looking at not only
+airports and people with access badges who are employed by
+those airports, but military facilities, defense contractors,
+ports where people, illegal aliens without documentation are
+again getting access to very sensitive facilities, and that has
+become a priority. We're looking at abusive employers, people
+who hold their illegal employees, illegal alien employees in
+conditions that would be equivalent to bondage or slavery, so
+we prioritize our efforts in that area.
+ So if you're looking at resources and the greatest effect
+that you can get from the resources you have in any given
+program, whether that's drug enforcement or employee sanctions
+enforcement, that's where we have our resources. Under the
+President's '06 budget--and I don't have the figure, I
+apologize, offhand here--but there is a requested enhancement
+before this Congress for increased funding for employer
+sanction investigations, which I think is very important, and
+hopefully by combining those additional resources as requested
+with our prioritization and again some compliance programs, we
+can have a greater impact than we have had.
+ Mr. Lungren. Thank you. Could you tell me how many arrests
+were made last year on employer sanctions?
+ Mr. Garcia. I'm sorry. I don't know the number.
+ Mr. Lungren. Would you--could you give me an idea? Would it
+be more than 1,000?
+ Mr. Garcia. Honestly, Congressman, I don't want to guess,
+but I can certainly have our staff give your staff the number.
+ Mr. Lungren. Right. I mean I understand you are doing
+things, but in terms of what we anticipated would be the case
+when we passed the bill in 1987, we're not doing anything. I'm
+not directing that at you. I'm directing that at all of us. I
+happen to believe in the President's idea that we ought to have
+a guest worker program because I think once we have a real
+workable guest worker program, we, the United States determines
+who comes here and under what circumstances and what jobs. Then
+we would actually have no excuse for not enforcing employer
+sanctions, and I think you'll get the kind of support for that
+which is necessary.
+ Back in '87, we were talking about it being largely a
+California problem or a Southwest problem. Illegal immigration
+is a problem all over the United States. Gangs now you're
+experiencing in the Shenandoah Valley. And I don't wish that on
+anybody. But if you look at the numbers you have versus the
+numbers we've been experiencing in other parts of the country
+for some time, I hope that's not my way of saying ``you ain't
+seen nothing yet.'' I hope it's my way of saying we've had some
+real problems. Maybe we can get support from other parts of the
+country for the problem that we've got, in terms of funding
+that is necessary. It's a multi-faceted problem that needs a
+multi-faceted approach. But part of that, it seems to me, is to
+try and get rid of this exacerbating problem, which is illegal
+alien gang members. We have enough problems with home-grown
+gang members. We don't need to add to it, and that is a true
+Federal responsibility.
+ Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
+ Mr. Hostettler. I thank the gentleman.
+ The question period now over, I want to thank the members
+of the panel for your input----
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman?
+ Mr. Hostettler. Yes? I recognize the gentlelady from----
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Would you please? Just if they can answer
+this yes or no, I ask the Chairman to indulge me 1 minute, ask
+unanimous consent for 1 minute.
+ Mr. Garcia, in the MS-13, have you in the course of--I'm
+not sure if there's any firsthand knowledge, but any of the MS-
+13 engage in any terrorist activity?
+ Mr. Garcia. Congresswoman, great question. We have seen
+reporting, I think some Boston reporting linking MS-13 and al
+Qaeda specifically. I have not seen that. I will tell you
+though that any organized criminal enterprise that's exploiting
+our border, as MS-13 is, to bring in contraband, to bring in
+illegal aliens, certainly is a national security risk, profit-
+driven, for the right amount of money could bring in
+terrorists, could bring in components of weapons of mass
+destruction. We have to accept that risk and address it. But I
+have not seen a specific link between that gang or other gangs
+and terrorist organizations.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. And you're aware that the MS-13, in
+addition to the hardened criminals that exist, recruits at the
+level of 13-, 14-, 15-year-olds?
+ Mr. Garcia. I'm not an expert on their recruitment. I would
+accept that representation from people who are familiar with
+gangs, but I'm not familiar with what age limit they begin
+targeting recruits.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Ms. Fernandez, just quickly, what would
+you do with legislation----
+ Mr. Hostettler. If the gentlelady will yield, we're really
+not going to be able to do a second round of questioning.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me have her do that in writing then.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Yes, please.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Would you please respond to potential
+legislation that would add a deportation provision to anyone
+who is a member of a gang, that if they were here, that their
+membership would equate to an automatic deportation?
+ Mr. Hostettler. I want to thank the panel, the witnesses
+for your presence here today and your very valuable
+contribution to this discussion.
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. And I've got a submission. Ask----
+ Mr. Hostettler. Unanimous consent?
+ Ms. Jackson Lee. Yeah, ask unanimous consent to put in the
+letter from the City of Houston dated April 14, Anti-Gang Task
+Force.
+ Mr. Hostettler. Without objection.
+ Mr. Hostettler. The business before the Subcommittee being
+complete, we are adjourned.
+ [Whereupon, at 6:23 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
+
+
+ A P P E N D I X
+
+ ----------
+
+
+ Material Submitted for the Hearing Record
+
+ Prepared Statement of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
+
+ The subject of this hearing is, ``Immigration and the Alien Gang
+Epidemic: Problems and Solutions.'' According to the Department of
+Justice, we currently have more than 25,000 gangs in the United States.
+The most recent National Youth Gang Survey indicates that there are
+more than 750,000 gang members. Some of these gangs resemble organized
+crime syndicates. They commit gun violence, gun trafficking, drug
+trafficking, and other serious crimes.
+ The gang we will hear the most about at this hearing is the Mara
+Salvatrucha, or MS-13 organization. Composed mainly of Salvadorans and
+other Central Americans, this gang has an estimated 8,000 to 10,000
+members in the United States. MS-13 was established in Los Angeles in
+the 1980s by Salvadorans fleeing from a civil war. When they came to
+Los Angeles, Mexican gangs preyed on them. Their response was to band
+together in a mara, or posse, composed of salvatruchas, which means
+street-tough Salvadorans.
+ According to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
+(ICE), the need to respond to the proliferation of MS-13 gangs has
+become a public safety priority. In January of 2005, ICE launched
+Operation Community Shield. The goal of this operation is to dismantle
+the MS-13 organization by targeting its members, financial assets, and
+operations. To do this, ICE will bring to bear all of its law
+enforcement and investigative powers, including criminal prosecutions,
+immigration authorities, financial investigations, and asset seizures.
+ ICE will work with partners in the federal law enforcement
+community, including U.S. Attorneys' offices; the FBI; the Drug
+Enforcement Administration (DEA); and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
+Firearms and Explosives (ATF). ICE also will work with foreign
+governments to identify known gang members. ICE agents have arrested
+more than 135 MS-13 gang members nationwide.
+ The gang problem is being addressed at the local level too. In
+1997, the Fairfax police department made youth gang crime a priority
+and established a gang investigations unit. In 2003, funding from the
+U.S. Congress enabled the creation of the Northern Virginia Gang Task
+Force. The Task Force works closely with the FBI, ATF, and ICE.
+ It is important to emphasize that Northern Virginia does not limit
+its efforts to law enforcement activities. The Task Force also does
+public education and awareness presentations; provides gang activity
+awareness training to school resource officers and Fairfax County
+public school personnel; and has established diversion programs such as
+GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) and youth mentoring
+programs.
+ I am pleased to say that we have a good gang intervention program
+in Houston too. In response to the rise in gang-related crime in the
+early 1990's, Houston's mayor established an Anti-Gang Office and Gang
+Task Force. The office's mission is to develop a comprehensive
+mechanism to reduce gang-related violence and crime. To meet this goal,
+the Anti-Gang Office and Gang Task Force has established prevention,
+intervention, and suppression program partnerships with law
+enforcement, criminal justice agencies, schools, youth service
+providers, and the public. It coordinates citywide anti-gang efforts,
+including the gathering and sharing of information on gang intervention
+and prevention activities related to gang violence.
+ Our witness today is Mai Fernandez, the Chief Operating Officer of
+the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC). The LAYC family of
+organizations includes two youth centers in Washington, D.C. and one
+about to open in Langley Park, Maryland; three public charter schools;
+an Art & Media House; transitional housing; and two social
+enterprises--all with a shared commitment to helping youth become
+successful and happy young adults who have the skills they need to
+succeed educationally, professionally, and personally. These services
+assist youth in breaking the cycle of crime and violence in their
+lives.
+ Thank you.
+
+ ----------
+
+LETTER FROM THE LATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER SUBMITTTED BY THE HONORABLE
+ SHEILA JACKSON LEE
+
+
+
+
+ __________
+
+ LETTER FROM THE CITY OF HOUSTON SUBMITTED BY THE HONORABLE SHEILA
+ JACKSON LEE
+
+
+
+
+
+
+