Family values keep Fil-Am teens from joining LA gangs

LOS ANGELES— Family values and community caring have managed to shield young Filipino-Americans from gang activity, despite a rise in gang activity here. The observation came from Deputy Consul General Daniel R. Espiritu of the Philippine Consulate here. "First of all, neighborhood familiarity is inherent in our culture," Espiritu told Philippine News. "The community becomes the extension of the family, especially since most parents are busy with multiple jobs here. The kumare and kumpare look after their Pinoy neighbors’ kids." Last year, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended more than 12,000 gang members and associates nationwide, including 154 gang leaders. The agency’s Operation Community Shield, launched in 2005, has also seized more than 470 firearms. In the Los Angeles area—where more than half a million Filipinos live—ICE gang arrests reached nearly 2,000 by the end of 2008. Of the 1,970 gang members taken into custody last year, more than 850 were prosecuted criminally on state or federal charges, ranging from re-entry after deportation to weapons violations. The remaining targets were foreign national gang members who were arrested on administrative immigration violations and placed in deportation proceedings. The statistics include ICE gang arrests in seven Southland counties—Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. California is home to majority of the nearly 4 million Filipinos in the US. According to a 2007 ICE report, more than 700 gangs are active in Los Angeles, with a combined population of more than 40,000. As the numbers continue to grow, so does the violence. But the face of gang members taking over the streets in Los Angeles is diversifying. Latino gangs are growing and have created what some see as a rivalry with African-American gangs in the city, according to the study, “A Call to Action: A Case for a Comprehensive Solution to LA’s Gang Violence Epidemic," by Connie Rice, co-director of Advancement Project Los Angeles. While many of the immigrant gangs targeted were neighborhood operations, others were ethnic-based, such as Armenian Power, Kurdish Pride, or Oriental Killer Boys. But nearly half of the aliens arrested over the period studied were affiliated with MS-13 and Surenos-13, two of the largest and most notorious transnational gangs with largely immigrant membership, according to a Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) study entitled, “Taking Back the Streets: ICE and Local Law Enforcement Target Immigrant Gangs," by Jessica M. Vaughan and Jon D. Feere. Nearly 60 percent of immigrant gangsters arrested by ICE were Mexican citizens, 17 percent were Salvadoran, and 5 percent were Honduran. In all, 53 different countries were represented. Filipinos, however, don’t figure as much in gang-related crimes, misdemeanors, or disturbances compared with other ethnic counterparts. ICE hasn’t listed any native Filipino on its “gangbanger" watchlist or detention cells in the past few years, although insignificant remnants of Pinoy street gangs like Akrho and Bahala Na Gang sporadically surface in known Filipino communities here and in Carson, Glendale, Eagle Rock, San Fernando Valley, Rowland Heights, West Covina and Hawthorne. Community and family awareness programs that are being instituted by FilAm community organizations, such as the Filipino-American Service Group, Inc. and the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, help a lot in dissuading Filipinos from joining gangs, said Espiritu. “So despite the individualism in American society, the natural, barrio-level connection in us make positive results in policing our kids before they slide to crimes and law enforcement get to them," he explained. Espiritu also cited the importance of language in instilling positive cultural norms in the youth. “Look at the Chinese and Koreans, for example—they maintain hold of the good values in their culture through their national language. I don’t encounter a lot of Koreans who can’t speak their native language. Generally, nagiging vehicle yun to keep the family and community together at nababantayan ang movements ng kabataan," Espiritu pointed out. The CIS study describes how immigration law enforcement authorities are used to combat gang activity, and offer policy recommendations to improve federal-local cooperation, and without damaging relations with immigrant communities. - Philippine News