Project Shadowfire was an American police investigation in early 2016 that resulted in the arrest of 1,133 people, 915 of whom were suspected members of "multinational organized criminal gangs", involved in

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

, drug smuggling and

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and elsewhere. The majority of the arrests took place in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

;

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

;

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, and

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. 70,000 US, 150 firearms and more than 20 kg narcotics were seized. Of the 1133 arrested, 1001 were charged with criminal offenses, and 132 were arrested for immigration violations. Over 900 of those arrested were believed to be members or associates of MS-13, Sureños, Norteños, Bloods and other

prison gang A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system. It has a corporate entity and exists into perpetuity. Its membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Prison officials and ot ...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

(ICE) officials confirmed that most of those arrested were American citizens, though 239 were foreign nationals from Central America, the Caribbean, Asia and Europe.

Response

According to Peter Edge of Homeland Security Investigations in an interview with

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, gangs in the United States have seen an increase in prevalence. He noted that gangs are becoming more organized as gang members enter the country, whether legally or illegally, and engage in various recruiting activities. The objective is for these criminal gang members to undergo judicial processing and, if applicable, be deported if they are not citizens of the United States. Former ICE Director

Sarah Saldaña Sarah Ruth Saldana was the fourth director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), serving from December 23, 2014,

issued a statement regarding Project Shadowfire, stating that it exemplifies ICE's ongoing efforts, which began over a decade ago under Operation Community Shield, to target violent gang members and their associates. The operation aims to eliminate the violence inflicted by these gangs on communities and disrupt the financial resources that support transnational organized crime groups operating abroad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadowfire, Project 2016 in the United States Illegal immigration to the United States Battles of the Mexican drug war Operations against organized crime in the United States

Response

See also

References