Federal immigration authorities recently announced that they had arrested more than 100 members of a violent Central American street gang in a nationwide crackdown.  The gang, Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, originated in Los Angeles and has multiplied across North America.  Many members of the gang are undocumented immigrants and have a number of charges on their record.  Some have been ordered deported but either returned unlawfully or never left the country. 

Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 103 gang members over the past month, according to the New York Times.  The success of the arrests is being attributed in Los Angeles to the sharing of information between the federal and local authorities.  Because federal immigration officials estimate that there are 80,000 to 100,000 criminal undocumented immigrants in the United States, they are currently attempting to single out the most hardened criminals with long-standing gang ties.  In Los Angeles, for example, apprehending all 30,000 presumed undocumented immigrant gang members would overwhelm the prison and court system. 

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According to the Washington Post, the Senate voted last week to provide funds for 2,000 new Border Patrol agents in next year’s budget in accordance with the intelligence overhaul bill.  The vote goes against President Bush’s request for 210 agents.  The amendment to the budget was unanimous, and although it does not bind appropriators it serves as the senators’ public position.  The amendment pays for the increases by reducing the foreign operations section of the budget by $352 million. 

Last year’s intelligence bill sought an additional 10,000 Border Patrol agents over five years, as well as 8,000 new detention beds and 800 interior investigators.  The Bush administration’s proposal called for 1,920 new beds and 143 investigators.  The President has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for not adhering to the intelligence overhaul bill he signed three months ago.