ICE takes down “illegals” in C’ville

The Associated Press and WBBM 780 is reporting that “Operation Community Shield, a two-year-old nationwide initiative in which ICE agents partner with federal, state and local law enforcement to combat gangs”, netted arrests of 21 reputed gang members, 19 of which were in this country illegally.

Agents made most of the arrests in Carpentersville, which has been a focus on the immigration debate in the northwest suburbs. Additional arrests were made in Belvidere, Bensenville, Cary, Lake Zurich and West Dundee.

Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto, who has maintained that immigration enforcement is primarily a role of the federal government, said he is supportive of ICE doing periodic sweeps like this as a matter of public safety.

“This is the kind of action that I’ve been supportive of since my election.” Sarto said.

Answering some of his critics who he says have wrongly accused him of wanting to protect illegal immigrants in “safe havens”, Sarto responded, “I voted for 287(g) training for our officers. I signed a letter sent to Congress requesting federal action and reforms on immigration and border security.”

“These arrests actually show that the federal government is acting on our concerns. I’m happy that our officers could assist in this operation to crackdown on gangs in our community and protect our citizens.”

Since [Operation Community Shield] began, Immigration agents have arrested more than 7,500 street gang members representing more than 700 gangs.

And what about those who claim that Sarto has said there is no illegal immigration population in Carpentersville?

“I actually never said that. I said that we needed evidence of the problems some of our trustees were saying were caused by illegals. I didn’t want our citizens unfairly targeted. ICE knew who they were after. I think we need to be just as certain in the actions we take locally.”