Federal agents and state law enforcement personnel raided a number of addresses today in several communities, including East Boston, looking for gang members with outstanding warrants.Boston.com reports that "a multijurisdictional task force that includes local police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Middlesex Sheriffs Department; and police from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority" joined agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency looking for members of MS-13, a street gang with an increasing presence in Greater Boston, including Eastie.
The police had a list with 50 photos and names on it, but the story has no information about arrests. A more detailed story appeared in the Globe on Wednesday morning.
12 comments:
At some point people are going to figure out that these raids are ineffective. As the Sterlingware spokesman pointed out, they cause unnecessary panic among the vast majority of hard working, law abiding immigrants and the people they work for.
I would further guess that the law enforcement officials are not releasing any numbers of people picked up because they didn't get many or any of the people they were targeting. I sat in a cafe on Meridian Street yesterday morning and saw these federal agents going in and out of local businesses. I didn't see a single person arrested but I did see a lot fewer people going to the local stores and restaurants.
When are we going to learn the lesson that the good folks in Texas have learned that anti-immigrant sentiment and laws are simply bad for business.
Wrong. When are some people going to learn that its illegal immigrants that others are against. Law abiding immigrants are always welcome.
I think you are right. We didn’t get any numbers because there are no numbers to report. The raids maybe ineffective but they are definitely not anti-immigrant. Nothing that was done was anti-immigrant. I have not here of any legal immigrants detained, arrested, or deported. Was this anti-gang, anti-gun, and anti-crime, absolutely.
If the Mara Salvatrucha MS-13 gang is predominantly Latino, and they are causing a problem in this area , then members of the gang who happen to be Latino are going to be arrested. If they had some Irish guys in the gang than they would be arrested also.
Latino’s were not being arrested because they were Latino, they were being arrested because they are part of MS-13.
Areas of the country that have not hit this gang hard have paid a price for complacency. I do not want to see East Boston pay that price
Rocinante,
Actually, the Globe story did report at least one permanent resident who was arrested who was not on the list. I've heard from some of the local agencies that a number of legal permanent residents have been detained.
ICE has a policy of "get them now, ask questions later." Anyone who has had a history of any legal problems, regardless of whether it was gang related or not and regardless of civil status, gets picked up. There are a number of court cases pending on this tactic. It raises serious due process and search and seizure issues.
Was the permanent resident someone who had an outstanding warrant on him/her? If they did its a good thing that ICE included them in the arrests.
"they cause unnecessary panic among the vast majority of hard working, law abiding immigrants and the people they work for. "
As opposed to the panic caused by the gangs who terrorize the communities in which these hard working folks live.
I say round these hoodlums up & either lock them up or ship them back where they came from.
Illegal is illegal. Why should foreign gangs hurt Eastie?
... many people ignore that the "GANGS" were initiated in USA, in response to social-economic and raalistic situation in some communities in USA. A lot of gang members are us citizens. These raids done by ICE and police, are directed to any latino who is in their way. They are aterrorizing the immigrant communities, that makes ICE and the police a "terrorists" in this country.
The police department in every city has the information about gan related people, why not the regular police takes care of the gang problems???
...also... the immigration to this country from Latin American countries is in response mainly to US Foreign Policy. The US intervention in many Latin countries on issues like: politics, war, commercial trades and more, makes the Latin American countries suffer, where the rich gets richer, and people in power gets more power to oppress the hard working people...How many of you know that the currency money in El Salvador is the US dollar??? and that in a small town, the government wants to privatize the water service, and sell it to an american company??? And that El Salvador is the “ONLY” latin country to have troops in Irak, in response to serve the US and that Salvadoran soldiers had died there too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please, just a little understanding won’t do it harm!!
Understand this, ILLEGAL IS ILLEGAL.
Why about illegal don't you understand????
If you are here illegally..GET OUT!
Anonymous at 5:13 wrote, "ILLEGAL IS ILLEGAL. Why about illegal don't you understand????"
The problem with that approach is that the law isn't always right. In Nazi Germany it was legal to torment and kill Jews. In the antebellum South, slavery was the law of the land. Helping a slave escape was illegal. At the time, some people made the argument that you are making. Would you have made it then?
As I wrote in comments elsewhere, I embrace Thoreau on this matter. He wrote, "The only obligation which I have a right to assume, is to do at any time what I think right."
Jimbo< i don't agree with some laws but does that mean I can break them. We have a process that we must follow. If you don't like a law there are ways to change it. I would love to rob a bank but I don't because it's illegal. Sneaking into this Country is illegal. Thats that bottom line
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