In a six-week operation dubbed “Operation New Dawn,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested more than 1,300 people in its largest anti-gang sweep ever, according to a Thursday announcement.Between March 26 and May 6, ICE worked with state and local law enforcement in 26 cities in an attempt to crack down on gang violence. Of the 1,378 people arrested, 933 people were U.S. Citizens and 445 were foreign nationals.Officials say 1,095 were gang members and affiliates.
According to ICE records, there were 1098 criminal arrests and 280 administrative arrests, which are used for immigration cases. In some cases, people in the country illegally also faced criminal charges.While this “surge” was the largest yet, it’s a common technique for ICE as part of Operation Community Shield, an anti-gang task force initiated in 2005.