Deported gang members often return

By: JO MORELAND - Staff Writer | Saturday, April 9, 2005 10:32 PM PDT ∞

NORTH COUNTY ---- Few people arrested during immigration-related sweeps targeting North County gangs are prosecuted, and many who are deported will probably return, local and federal authorities said last week.

"Are repeat offenders a common occurrence here? Very much so," said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, commonly known as ICE.

Since ICE was formed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the agency has been involved in six immigration-related sweeps targeting gang members in San Diego County.

Three of the crackdowns were in North County, hitting Oceanside gang members every time. San Marcos, Vista and Escondido were included in one of those sweeps.

The sweeps allow law enforcement officers to get intelligence information about gangs, break up gang leadership, and make gangs unstable for a time, said Lt. Tom Jones of the Oceanside Police Department's special enforcement unit.

"Every time we can break up the core of the gang it helps us, even if it's just for a few months," Jones said.

But there isn't enough money to prosecute and detain all who are arrested, and sometimes legal decisions hamper prosecution or deportation, authorities said.

The situation frustrates some residents.

"I wouldn't mind supporting them (suspects) while they're in jail, but I don't want to support them while they're on the street, robbing houses, shooting people," said Oceanside resident Claudia McGraw, 64.

McGraw, a transplanted New Yorker, asked what the point is in spending money on gang sweeps if those arrested aren't kept off the streets through prosecution or official deportation.

No one arrested twice in sweeps

ICE estimates that 15 percent to 20 percent of about 8,000 gang members in San Diego County are foreign nationals, many of them deported at least once, usually to Mexico. Authorities say there are about 2,230 documented gang members in North County.

No gang members arrested in the sweeps have been rearrested, Mack said, and officials don't know how many may have returned but haven't been caught.

Law enforcement officers arrested 41 gang members or people who associate with them as part of a March 29 sweep in Oceanside that targeted illegal immigration.

Four of those suspects were to be officially deported, one person's situation was unclear, and the rest of the suspects have been or will voluntarily return to Mexico, including two legal U.S. residents, according to ICE statistics.

At least eight of the suspects had been deported at some point and illegally returned to the United States, Mack said.

Operation Closed Corridor in November also focused on North County gang members.

Of 45 people arrested in that sweep, Mack said, 21 were to be officially deported, including nine people who were legal U.S. residents, four were to voluntarily return to Mexico, and 19 had deportation orders against them that were reinstated before they voluntarily returned south of the border.

Officials said one person from the November sweep and two from the March sweep were formally deported prior to the sweep, so they are being prosecuted for felony re-entry into the United States.

Four other suspects in the March sweep who were referred to the U.S. attorney's office were turned down for prosecution, said Michael Lasater, deputy chief of the general crimes section of that office.

Returnees seldom prosecuted

Even though returning to the United States is a criminal offense, authorities said violators are seldom prosecuted because of limited resources in the criminal justice system ---- not enough prosecutors, jails, judges, officers or beds.

Violent criminals who have illegally re-entered the United States after they were legally deported are at the top of the ICE prosecution list, along with terrorism suspects and sex offenders, said Mack.

Among those arrested during the March gang sweep, she said, was 31-year-old Victor Manuel Alvarado-Mata of Oceanside, a registered sex offender in San Diego County.

Convicted in 1994 for lewd acts on a child and ordered deported in 1996, Alvarado-Mata was among those to be voluntarily returned to Mexico because he was declined for prosecution, according to ICE.

"Every case is treated differently," Lasater said.

Without directly addressing the Alvarado-Mata case because he wasn't familiar with it, Lasater said the quality of proof provided for prosecution, the background and nature of the individual, and the person's prior criminal record are taken into account.

The U.S. attorney's office has to decide how to allocate its resources, and generally the people with the worst criminal records are the ones prosecuted, Lasater said.

He noted that illegal immigrants, including gang members, who plead guilty to a crime are required to be deported after they serve time.

That means non-U.S. citizens pay twice for any crime they commit here, said immigration attorney Lilia Velasquez.

"If they have no documents and commit an offense, they are going to be deported," Velasquez said. "There's very little we can do for that person."

Wiggle room

However, if a gang member or anyone else arrested agrees to voluntarily leave the United States without going through the official deportation process, there is wiggle room in the system to illegally return time after time, authorities said.

As long as the person doesn't have a criminal record, coming back into the United States after voluntarily leaving is an administrative violation, said Agent Tom Jimenez, Border Patrol spokesman.

Officials said those people can enter the United States illegally again and again, usually to be returned to Mexico each time without being prosecuted. Two suspects in the March sweep had three prior illegal entries.

"I'd rather they (gang members) go through the court system," said McGraw. "Get a history on them. Get them out."

Mack said those gang members still have a deportation on their record.

"We can catch them again, but there's no guarantee they'll be prosecuted," she said. "Our cases overwhelm the entire criminal justice system. There's just too many."

Contact staff writer Jo Moreland at (760) 740-3524 or jmoreland@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.