Comments about ‘More than 70 arrested in statewide gang sweep’

Great work, and congratulations to the law enforcement agencies who rounded up these dangerous, intimidating individuals. Now let's hope they are kept in jail/prison for longer than a few hours. Our judicial system needs to do better to keep these criminal misfits off our streets and support the hard work law enforcement does to get them rounded up. So what if our jail cells are crowded--they go to jail/prison for punishment, not a life of ease!

From the story:

"Over half will be looking at deportation proceedings."

"One of those arrested was Guadalupe Alfredo Melendez-Laine, 34, a Honduran national with ties to the Surenos 13 street gang who has previously been deported five times."

That seems to be working well. Why not deport him to Siberia?

An ounce of prevention = a pound of cure.

So very true.

Keeping trouble makers from establishing a foothold is so important. Once they do its like trying to remove a roach infestation.

These times are a changing. I wonder when ICE will team up with the AG and begin arresting the EMPLOYERS
here in Utah who hire illegals and continue to throw up road blocks when Americans attempt to find work.

Over half facing deportation! And I always thought they were here just to get better jobs to support their families. At least that's what the liberals try to make us believe.

These gangbangers who continue to reenter the United States after deportation should be executed.

Thank you law enforcement for taking a stand against illegal immigrants who bring crime to us.

Deported five times? Why don't we just install a turnstile at the border and charge admission? At least it would pay for sending them back over and over. At what point do you say "we're keeping him! (in jail!!)

Thank god for law enforcement. Thank you Mr. Shurtleff for your support. We have a big problem here in Washington Co that needs constant patrolling. If you get them ALL it will decrease our county population by about 25% but thats just fine. Out of here not to return I hope. Thanks so much for all of your efforts.

Nice work! We appreciate you cleaning up the streets.

who are hiring the illegals UTAH! all you have to do is go down 600 west 200so any day and surprise!! you'll find your GOP friends and neighbors picking them up as they line the street corners like creatures of habit. and be sure to tell your neighbors they are the cause n the effect here in UTAH!

If deporting five times doesn't work, our Governor and Mr. Shurtleff and our elected state reps need to enact a way to put criminal illegals in prison permanently. If Melendez-Laine can't behave here and won't go home, keep him in jail! Stop playing with him.

Dig a big pit and call it Utah's Alcatraz, then put them in there for the rest of their lives. Seriously, deporting them just means they will be back.

I'm glad these criminals are off the street, but let's be honest with ourselves- 76 gang members were arrested by the team, over half just happened to be illegal immigrants. What did you expect when they target a gang made up of Hispanics? Of all the gang arrests in Utah, illegal immigrants constitute a VERY small percentage. Let's congratulate ourselves for arresting violent criminals and stop spinning it to seem like all gang-related criminal activity comes from illegal immigrants. Once again, Shurtleff is leveraging your ignorant fear for his own gain.

These are just immigrants doing jobs Americans won't do!

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Mr. Shurtluff, the AG, has finally gotten around to doing what should have started several years ago. I don't suppose that it is because he is now running for the U.S. Senate?? The AG's office under Mr. Shurtluff has made little effort in the past to deal with the illegal problem in Utah, major criminals or not.

I hope that those commenting on the illegal alien problem belong to one of the citizen groups fighting the problem: In St George it would be (CCII) Citizen Council on Illegal Immigration, (UFIRE) Utahns For Immigration Reform and Enforcement, or (UMP) Utah Minuteman Project. All of these have web pages with contact information. Perhaps you could start your own group but joining one of these is easier. Now is maybe the time to come out from behind your computer and stand up publicly. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

You're right "it's not the liberals", it's got to be the GOP that's providing the jobs, Democrats certainly don't...for anyone. It all sounds pretty easy to me. It's called an ultimatum. "Convict, you show up here in Utah again, you get the death penalty, it's as simple as that. Your serve."

I doubt the gangbangers are coming here for jobs, they are coming here to traffic drugs and extort.

They need l-e-n-g-t-h-y prison terms, then deportation.

Lets make sure there is no turnstile at the border or the jail!!

The problem really is the countries these punks come from. Every year the US divvies out billions in foreign aid to these countries. why not deduct the cost of rounding up and deporting the hoods from said countries? If Honduras and Mexico were losing millions because we were charging them to police their citizens, don't you think they would tighten up and cooperate more closely with us?