ICE Fights Gangs; Gangs Grow in Numbers?

Matthew Quirk has an article in The Atlantic about the efforts in recent years by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to remove criminal gang members.   Deportations will set a record this fiscal year.  "Latino gang members have been targeted for particularly aggressive action. "  Quirk suggests that the problem is not being solved, but may in fact be getting worse, by the mass removals: 

"[T]he U.S. continues to repeat the mistakes it made in the ’90s. Most ICE arrests have been for immigration-related offenses, not criminal offenses. Suspected “associates” are lumped in with gang members, which only reinforces gang ties; with dabblers and minor offenders, experts agree that anti-gang intervention programs are better at preventing gangs’ growth. For hard-core gang members, quickie deportations on immigration charges are often no more than short-term fixes; lengthy American prison sentences would be more effective."

KJ