Federal agents' gang sweep nets 185 Southland arrests, 1,100 nationwide

A five-week enforcement action has resulted in the arrests of  185 criminal gang members and others associated with transnational criminal activity in the Southland and more than 1,100 arrests nationwide, federal law enforcement officials said.

The operation, dubbed "Project Shadowfire," was led by agents in Homeland Security Investigations' national gang unit and officers involved in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ongoing Operation Community Shield, a press release said.

During the course of the operation, which ran from Feb. 15 to March 21, Homeland Security's agents in the Southland and across the country worked closely with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate known gang members and gang associates, including more than 900 individuals linked to transnational criminal activity such as drug trafficking, human smuggling, sex trafficking and racketeering, the release said.

"This operation is the latest example of ICE's ongoing efforts, begun more than a decade ago under Operation Community Shield, to target violent gang members and their associates, to eradicate the violence they inflict upon our communities and to stop the cash flow to transnational organized crime groups operating overseas," ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña said in the release.

Most of the individuals arrested during Project Shadowfire were U.S. citizens, but 239 foreign nationals from 13 countries in Central America, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean were also arrested, ICE said. Of the 1,133 individuals arrested nationwide, 915 were gang members and associates; 1,001 were charged with criminal offenses; and 132 were arrested for immigration violations, ICE said.

Most of the people arrested were affiliated with gangs such as MS-13, Sureños, Norteños, the Bloods and several prison-based gangs, federal officials said. Enforcement actions occurred around the country, with the greatest activity taking place in the Los Angeles, San Juan, Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, and El Paso areas.

As part of Project Shadowfire, HSI special agents also seized 150 firearms, more than 20 kilograms of narcotics, and more than $70,000 in U.S currency, the press release said.