BROWNSVILLE — Hundreds of gang members and their associates in 83 U.S. cities were arrested in a weeklong sweep dubbed “Project Big Freeze,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday.
ICE said last week's operation was its largest to date targeting transnational gangs. Almost half of the 476 arrested were members of gangs with ties to Mexican, South American and Asian drug cartels.
Twenty-six of the arrests were in South Texas, including nine in San Antonio, 14 in the Rio Grande Valley and three in Laredo.
“Through gang enforcement operations like Project Big Freeze, ICE continues to work to target and dismantle transnational gangs to rid our streets not only of drug dealers but the violence associated with the drug trade,” ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton said.
The South Texas arrests targeted members of the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, Latin Kings, Hermanos Pistoleros and Vallucos, the latter an emerging gang in the Rio Grande Valley, said ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda.
Operation Big Freeze is an ongoing effort coordinating federal, state and local law enforcement, she said.
In Wednesday's announcement, ICE pointed to the arrests of career criminals on parole or immigration violations, including the Chicago arrest of a Mexican citizen in the Latin Kings and the Philadelphia arrest of a Ukrainian member of the Warlocks motorcycle gang
