EDITORIAL – Crime solution a success, for now

The Department of Homeland Security is diversifying its operations as of late.

In just one… The Department of Homeland Security is diversifying its operations as of late.

In just one year, Operation Community Shield, a federal program intended to crack down on “transnational, violent street gangs,” has yielded the arrests of more than 2,300 members of domestic gangs. More than 900 of those arrests have been of members of a new, rapidly growing Los Angeles-based gang known as MS-13, according to a DHS announcement.

Because many of the gang members arrested – particularly those from MS-13 – are illegal immigrants, the DHS has been able to coordinate the efforts of customs and immigrations officials to help fight domestic gang violence.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff says fighting gang crime is similar to fighting terrorism, and that it takes the coordinated efforts of multiple layers of law enforcement to effectively fight the problem.

According to those arrest figures, it seems Chertoff is on to something. Not only has the operation produced thousands of arrests, 51 of those were of gang leaders, and 375 of them came in the last two weeks alone. Dallas, the city that saw the most gang arrests throughout the duration of the program, has seen a reduction in violent crime of 20 percent in the last year.

Those are some pretty impressive results, and the Department of Homeland Security deserves a big, fat pat on the back for directing its efforts so successfully toward something other than just fighting foreign terrorism.

The DHS seems to be accomplishing things with its resources that local police forces would never be able to coordinate, which is just as well, considering that local law enforcement has enough to deal with without having to fight a war against such widespread, sophisticated enemies as gangs like MS-13.

The unfortunate snag, however, according to FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker, is that many of these gang members are ultimately just deported to their countries of origin, which has contributed to the growth of MS-13 in countries such as Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras.

While it’s easy to say that that’s just not our problem, it’s not hard to imagine how it could become our problem down the line. If deporting the gang members is causing the growth of foreign cells, the DHS may simply be contributing to the complexity and sophistication of the gangs, which no doubt continue to gain members, both from outside and inside the country. It’s entirely possible that all this deportation could just result in a bigger, more capable crime network with access to more resources and recruits in a wider array of countries.

Still, while this system is by no means perfect for the long-term, it’s hard to argue with a 20 percent reduction in violent crime, and the DHS has only so many financially and legally feasible options at its disposal. One can muse over hypothetical problems ad infinitum, but the fact remains that the Department of Homeland Security has produced very real results in cracking down on gang crime. The DHS deserves acclaim not just for its efforts, but also for its recognition that threats to the security of our nation’s citizens do not come only from foreign terrorists.