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OCEANSIDE ---- Officers have arrested 18 gang members in Oceanside during the past two weeks as part of a national sweep targeting violent street gangs, authorities said Monday.

Dubbed "Operation Community Shield," federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents working with local and state law enforcement officers arrested 582 alleged gang members and people who associate with them throughout the U.S. during the ongoing anti-gang effort.

Almost all the suspects are accused of administrative immigration violations, but 76 have been charged with criminal violations that include repeated illegal entry into the U.S., illegal possession of guns and fraudulent documents, and state crimes.

"I think people need to understand ... they're terrorists, because they terrorize the community that they're in," Oceanside Police Chief Jerome Lance said in an interview.

Lance, who spoke at the national press conference in Washington, D.C. representing all local law enforcement involved in the sweep, said gang members steal cars and other things, deal drugs and threaten to harm and kill people.

Last year there were 20 gang-related shootings in Oceanside. Three people were killed and 18 wounded in the coastal community, which has 1,100 documented gang members.

The only arrests made in San Diego County during the sweep were in Oceanside, but some of the suspects were gang members from Vista and Carlsbad, said Lauren Mack, Immigration and Customs spokeswoman.

"Street gangs in America have grown and expanded their influence to an alarming level, marked by increased violence and criminal activity," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. "These gangs pose a severe threat to public safety and this growth must not go unchallenged."

One of the gangs targeted in Oceanside is a new one that used to be a small group of taggers, authorities said.

They said among those arrested in the city was 38-year-old Jesus Carrillo-Medina, with a criminal history that includes causing bodily harm and having sex with a child under the age of 3.

Another Oceanside suspect, Roberto Figueroa-Alvarez, 25, had been deported eight times before being sent back to Mexico after his latest arrest. An official said Figueroa-Alvarez was also taken into custody on suspicion of drug possession, burglary, robbery and battery of a spouse.

Eleven of the 18 arrested in Oceanside have criminal records, 10 were previously deported, and all 18 suspects are Mexican citizens, officials said.

"We're going to use every one of our resources to target these individuals (in gangs) and either prosecute or deport them," said Serge Duarte, deputy special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the San Diego region.

About 20 percent of gang members are foreign born, and that's why immigration laws are being used to arrest them, in addition to state and other federal laws, Duarte said.

The names of the North County gangs weren't released, but officials said the suspects include three women ---- Alejandra Angeles, 19; Alejandra Hernandez-Galindo, 33, and Teresa Martinez-Ledesma, 51.

The other suspects are Alfonso Anaya Mata, 26; Eugenio Castellanos, 43: Jhoni Ibanez and Leonel Reyes, both 19; Alfredo Ramales-Saldivar, 24; Raul Ragudo and Oscar Ramales-Saldivar, both 28; Moises Garcia-Avendano, 32; Angel Cerda-Castellanos, 18; Alfonso Calvo, 26; Jose Damian-Tixteco, 27; Tomas Martinez-Cruz, 26, and a 17-year-old boy, who was accused of sexual battery and driving under the influence.

Five of the 18 suspects were still in immigration custody, three are being held by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, and the rest have been deported to Mexico, Mack said.

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