By Brian R. Ballou and Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | August 29, 2007
Federal agents and local police swept into Chelsea, Somerville, and East Boston yesterday in an attempt to arrest dozens of suspects, some believed to be members of a violent Salvadoran gang, on outstanding warrants.
The sweep, dubbed Operation 13, had been in the planning stages for weeks in response to crimes perpetrated by the MS-13 gang, said Chelsea police Captain Brian Kyes. He said the operation targeted up to 50 people and was headed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and included officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Middlesex Sheriff's Department; police from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; and local police departments.
Immigration advocates said families in Lynn, Revere, and Everett also reported arrests, but authorities in those cities would not confirm the accounts. The suspects in the raids were sought on weapons charges and for violent offenses.
Customs spokesman Michael Gilhooly confirmed the raids took place, but would not say how many people were arrested or where they were being held. Similar sweeps against MS-13 have taken place recently in Chicago, Omaha, and other cities.
As the law enforcement officials knocked on doors yesterday morning, panic spread among immigrants, apparently in fear that they would be swept up in another crackdown on undocumented workers. Some said they remained indoors because of the raids.
But federal officials were looking for specific people, Gilhooly said. "We don't do random operations. We are targeting specific individuals who are a threat to public safety."
The sweep unfolded on the same day as the local launch of a federal program that illuminates a different aspect of the government's immigration strategy. Alfonso Aguilar, chief of the US Office of Citizenship, unveiled a new effort at Boston's City Hall to encourage legal immigrants and US citizens to volunteer in their communities, learn English and American civics, and assimilate.
Customs would not confirm reports that yesterday's arrests were part of an antigang crackdown, but in 2005 the agency launched Operation Community Shield, a national effort targeting MS-13. Since then, federal authorities have expanded the operation to include all gangs, leading to the arrests of more than 4,800 alleged members of about 350 gangsacross the country, according to the agency's website.
Some of the suspects being sought yesterday may have slipped through the net.
While federal authorities would not say how many immigrants they were seeking, MBTA Deputy Chief Paul MacMillan said a transit officer was part of a small group of law enforcement officials who scoured East Boston. "They came up empty after going to three houses," he said. "They couldn't find who they were looking for."
Relatives and co-workers of two of those detained described the operation as quick and efficient.
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