1,378 Arrests During Six-Week Gangland Sweep in the United States

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) concluded a six week long anti-gang operation. During the country-wide operation that ran from March 26 to May 6, the agency and local law enforcement arrested close to 1,378 suspects, of which 1,095 had gang affiliations.

According to ICE, "individuals are confirmed as gang members if they admit membership in a gang" or have previously been convicted of crimes associated with street gangs. Also, many gang members give away their affiliation themselves by brandishing tattoos identifying a specific gang. Others are identified as a gang member by reliable sources.

Of the gang affiliated arrested, there was a pretty even share of the most notorious gangs, as shown in our infographic below. Members of the Crips, Bloods, Sureños and MS-13 were taken into custody. Most of the arrested were U.S. citizens (67.7 percent). The foreign nationals swept up (32.3 percent) came from 21 countries in South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean.

The agents involved in the broad sweep also seized 238 guns and impounded close to 500,000 in cash. Narcotics were seized too: 500 pounds of Marijuana, 50 pounds of cocaine, 34 pounds of Meth and 7 pounds of Heroin. Operational hotspots were Houston, Atlanta, New York and the Newark area.