[Marxism] Immigration Raids Framed As "Anti-Gang Crackdown" in NYT

[Sky Keyes-Vogt]

As the following article from the NYT shows, one of the ways that the ruling
class is trying to form a united front (of sorts) against immigrants is by
framing the debate about crime/gangs instead.  So we saw that the killing of
high school football phenom Jamiel Shaw in L.A. by an "illegal" immigrant
became transformed into a campaign against Special Order 40 (protecting
latinos from being stopped by the police to check for immigration status in
L.A.) that amplified anti-gang and anti-violence rhetoric above
anti-immigrant rhetoric to obfuscate the issue at hand.  Note how this
article blurs the lines between between violent gang members and "illegal"
immigrants.  And what about this line:  "[The Justice Department] has wide
latitude to initiate deportation proceedings against noncitizens, he said,
even if they are found not guilty of crimes."  So basically if you're caught
up in this gang sweep and are totally innocent you can still be deported.
Nationally prominent gang expert Alex Alonso in L.A. has written quite a few
pieces about the dubious gang identification process, which is basically at
an officer's discretion and has no oversight.  Mis-identify them as gang
members, arrest them, guilty or not they get deported.

I don't deny that there are violent gang members out there, maybe this raid
even caught some of them.  But we must be aware of the fact that when the
media and the police talk about "gangs" its usually a code word for poor and
oppressed people that they want to amp up persecution of.
Hundreds Are Arrested in Antigang Crackdown
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/us/02gangs.html?ref=us

By SOLOMON MOORE
Published: October 1, 2008

A four-month nationwide crackdown on gangs has brought the arrest of 1,759
people — gang members and their associates, other criminals and
immigration<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>violators
— from more than 20 countries, the federal authorities announced
Wednesday.

Dozens of state and local law enforcement agencies joined federal officers
in raids carried out in 28 states, including New York and New Jersey,
focusing on gang hubs like Los Angeles, Miami and Boston.

The annual crackdown, which ended Wednesday, is another sign of the
increasing prevalence of gangs with a presence in more than one country, and
of the high degree of law enforcement cooperation required to counter them.

"We now have over 890 gangs in the United States that we've been able to
target," said Brandon Alvarez-Montgomery, a spokesman for Immigration and
Customs Enforcement<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/immigration_and_customs_enforcement_us/index.html?inline=nyt-org>.


The crackdowns began in February 2005 as a way to combat the Salvadoran gang
MS-13. The program has since expanded to make targets of all gangs with
international ties and, the authorities say, has led to the arrest of 11,106
gang members and associates.

This year's sweep, the largest so far, resulted in the arrest of 730 people
on new criminal charges, 338 of them foreigners. The others picked up are
charged with immigration violations.

Nearly all the arrested foreigners face proceedings leading to deportation,
Mr. Alvarez-Montgomery said. Non-American suspects are to be prosecuted by
the Justice Department or state and local agencies on charges including
murder, rape, drug distribution, firearms violations and illegal re-entry
after deportation, a federal felony.

Those found guilty will be subject to incarceration, and then deportation
proceedings upon release, Mr. Alvarez-Montgomery said. His agency has wide
latitude to initiate deportation proceedings against noncitizens, he said,
even if they are found not guilty of crimes.

State and local law enforcement agencies depend on the annual federal
crackdown for intelligence and other resources to deal with international
gangs. Rusty Grant, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation, said the government had provided invaluable assistance in an
investigation of eight killings, from 2000 to 2006 in Cedartown, Ga., that
were related to a methamphetamine-running operation. Three of the victims'
bodies were set on fire to destroy evidence.

"The individuals committing these drug crimes were Mexican illegal aliens,"
Mr. Grant said. "ICE provided expertise in dealing with the immigration
aspects of the case and also provided Spanish-speaking agents as well."

Mr. Grant said federal and local officers had arrested about 80 people in
that particular investigation, including all the killers. They also arrested
several methamphetamine distributors, among them a man who was hauling 1,000
pounds of the drug.