Posted on October 29, 2009

Gangs Flee N.Va. for Havens in Md., D.C., Report Says

Freeman Klopott, Washington Examiner, October 27, 2009

Crackdowns on illegal immigrants and other law enforcement efforts are driving gangs out of Northern Virginia and into Maryland and the District, a report released Monday concluded.

“Many gang members from Northern Virginia are moving or driving to Prince George’s and other Maryland counties, into the District of Columbia or further south and west into Virginia to avoid dealing with police departments that are unrelenting in their efforts to keep gangs under control,” authorities wrote in the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force report.

The report said the task force’s success is the result of Virginia law enforcement’s use of anti-gang policing measures, including the referring of suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities. Since the task force was created in 2003, it has arrested 952 gang members, more than 40 percent of whom were illegal immigrants, the report said.

Experts say jurisdictions such as Montgomery County, where police are told to look away from immigration violations, have become safe havens for gangs.

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But officials on the other side of the Potomac said there is no evidence to back up the report’s claim–based on anecdotal evidence–that the gangs are fleeing into their jurisdictions.

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Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey said violent crime has been dropping in the county, where homicides this year may reach lows not seen since the late 1990s. Violent activity by Hispanic gangs has dropped off since federal authorities successfully prosecuted MS-13 gang leaders on racketeering charges. However, Ivey said, traditionally black gangs like the Crips and the Bloods have been making inroads, but primarily through the jail system and not through migration from other areas.

Jon Feere, a legal policy analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies, said the “enforcement-free zones” that define Maryland’s and the District’s approach to illegal immigrants “benefit only the lawbreaker and are a threat to public safety.”

He added, “a jurisdiction which welcomes illegal immigration also welcomes gang activity.”