Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Location: Thousand Oaks
Unit Responsible: Special Enforcement Unit / Immigration and Customs Enforcement

A partnership between the Thousand Oaks Police Department’s Special Enforcement/Gang Unit and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to the deportation of 14 criminal street gang members from Thousand Oaks in 2008.
Because of Operation Community Shield, an ICE-led nationwide gang enforcement program, local law enforcement agencies have formed partnerships with ICE to deport members of criminal street gangs who are foreign nationals.
Seven of the fourteen deportees in 2008 were members of the El Salvadoran MS-13 gang. The remaining seven were members of the local TOCAS gang. One of the TOCAS gang members was deported three times in 2008, while another was deported twice during the year. A third TOCAS member is currently in federal custody, pending conviction for illegal re-entry.
Two MS-13 members are currently in federal custody pending deportation, while two TOCAS members are also pending deportation hearings.
The parent of a TOCAS gang member was arrested and convicted for witness intimidation. At the conclusion of the sentence, the parent was transferred to federal authorities and is currently out of custody on an Immigration Bond awaiting a deportation hearing.
The deported gang members have been sent back to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru.
“The advantage of the partnership has been having an ICE agent assigned to work directly with our gang unit to identify local criminals who are also foreign nationals,” said Sheriff’s Captain Randy Pentis. “This level of cooperation between federal and local agencies is not new, but it gives our agency another tool to fight gang violence in our community.”
"ICE's joint enforcement gang enforcement efforts with the Thousand Oaks Police Department have yielded impressive results," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in Los Angeles. "By pooling our leads, our resources and our expertise, we've
succeeded in removing dangerous gang members from this community. ICE will continue to work closely with local law enforcement to target transnational gangs and promote public safety."
There are 190 documented gang members in the city of Thousand Oaks.