# Brockton gang members detained pending hearing



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

_By Jennifer Kovalich, ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER_
BROCKTON - Seven people, including five with gang affiliations who were picked up on federal warrants Thursday, have been detained in Immigration and Custom Enforcement custody, pending removal hearings before an immigration judge.

The sweep of the individuals who were apprehended on immigration violations was part of a program called "Project Safe Streets."

The program is a joint effort through ICE and the U.S. Attorney's office to maximize federal resources by strategically determining the alienage and deportability of gang members from Project Safe Neighborhood target cities.

The arrests came during a month when violence erupted in the city with four people being shot across the street from Joe Angelo's Cafe & Deli, with a gunman firing into the crowd in front of four police officers. Three people were also slain in a span of twelve days.

"This was only part of a coordinated, ongoing plan to curb and deter violent criminal action," Police Chief William K. Conlon said in a statement.

The agents who were part of the Safe Street Task Force attempted to locate four gang members and four other aliens in the United States illegally, according to a statement released Friday by the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston.

Authorities from the Brockton Police Department, Plymouth County District Attorney's office, Massachusetts State Police, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were able to locate the four gang members and another individual with a visa waiver overstay, as well as two others with warrants of deportation.

"We are very pleased with these arrests," District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said in a statement released Friday.

"Removing these violent individuals from the streets of Brockton who were in the United States illegally will make this a safer community."

Five of the individuals who were picked up by authorities are:

Francisco Resende, 21, of 589 North Montello St.; Ezeqiuel Fernandes, 24, 77 Spring St. ; Dierk Hedemann, 50, of 100 Battles St.; Odair Correia, 23, of 27 Colonel Bell Drive; and Roosevelt Barbier, 45, of 16 Bunker St.

The identity of the other two could not be immediately learned Friday evening.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said in a statement that the arrests demonstrated how federal and local agencies can work together to make the community safer.

Bruce M. Foucart, special agent-in-charge of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement Office Investigations in Boston, said removing dangerous criminals from the streets is one of that agency's top priorities.

"Criminal aliens can be assured that we are looking for them, and we will use all of our resources to remove them from our streets, and where possible, our country," Foucart said in a statement.


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## j809 (Jul 5, 2002)

This is a joke. Why do they only do this when crime in Brockton escalates. If they did this all the time, then maybe all the shootings by all the illegals there would be diminshed.


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