5 suspected gang members arrested in Las Vegas as part of nationwide sweep

Five alleged gang members were rounded up in Las Vegas as part of a nationwide sweep by federal immigration agents that yielded more than 1,300 arrests, federal officials said Thursday.

Word of the overall anti-gang operation came in an announcement in Washington, D.C., by the Department of Homeland Security, which said it was part of an enforcement effort launched in 2005. The operation comes amid a Trump administration effort to crack down on street gangs as part of a broader border security and illegal immigration enforcement effort.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Thomas Homan said 1,098 suspected gang members were arrested on a variety of federal and state criminal charges, while 280 others face administrative immigration charges. Among them were 384 foreigners who were living in the U.S. illegally and 61 who were legally in the country.

Virginia Kice, a local ICE spokeswoman, said three of those arrested in Las Vegas were picked up on criminal charges while the other two were “foreign nationals” suspected of being in the country illegally.

ICE said those arrested in the operations between late March and early May included suspected members of the Bloods, Surenos, MS-13 and Crips gangs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Rachel Hershkovitz at rhershkovitz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @rzhershkovitz on Twitter.