By George P. Hassett

Five alleged MS-13 members were arrested in the middle of a gang meeting July 13 by federal and local law enforcement officials. A sixth reputed MS-13 member was arrested walking down Broadway the same day, according to police. Of the six men arrested that day, five live in Somerville and two hold leadership positions within the gang, police said.

Boston Police Department investigators had noted a spike in MS-13 gang activity in the region, said Somerville Police Capt. Paul Upton, and planned the joint operation with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Everett, Chelsea, Revere and Somerville police. The operation eventually yielded the arrests of the six men on federal immigration law violations.

The men arrested were Oscar Leon, 26, of 202 Pearl St., Javier Garcia, 26, of 14 Pearl St., Walter Diaz-Ramos, 21, of 30 River Road, Edgar Alexander Erazo-Maldonado, 23, of 30 Aldrich St., Francisco Julio Tejada, 20, of 129 Irving St., Everett and Carlos Wilfredo Lones, 33, of 24 Indiana Ave. All but Leon were arrested at the gang meeting, held outdoors in an industrial section of the city, Upton said. Upton would not release the exact location of the meeting or which of the men held leadership roles within MS-13. All six men will now face deportation proceedings, said Paula Grenier, spokeswoman for ICE.

Somerville police became involved in the investigation when Boston police received information that the defendants planned to hold a gang recruitment meeting in the city July 13.

Acting Police Chief Robert R. Bradley said the action was not “an immigration law sweep, but a carefully targeted operation of previously identified gang members.” Bradley has said repeatedly that local police should not be used to enforce federal immigration laws. “We don’t ask for green cards, and we don’t care whether someone is here legally or illegally,” he said at a July 10 public meeting. At the meeting, he said if local police become involved in immigration violations, they would lose trust in immigrant communities.

Upton said the arrests July 13 are not a case of Somerville police enforcing immigration laws. They are, he said, a case of Somerville police using every tool they have, including immigration law, to target people committing crimes in the city.

“It’s the difference between people who are committing crimes and people who are not committing crimes. If you are a person committing crimes in Somerville, we will do anything we can to get you off the streets, including using immigration laws,” he said.

Somerville has gang members within its borders, but compared to the surrounding communities has been able to avoid significant gang activity and violence, Upton said. However, a lot of gang members pass through Somerville each day on their way to communities such as Everett, Chelsea and Cambridge, he said.

For Bradley, it doesn‚Äôt matter if gang members are from Somerville, Chelsea or another country, he said they will not find a welcoming atmosphere in Somerville. 

“Somerville is not going to tolerate members of criminal gangs– no matter where they come from,” he said.