Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Government and Gangs

Two major Latino gangs keep San Jose police busy. The gangs are divided by geographic lines and citizenship status.

?There?s the Sureno gang members, there?s Northern gang members. And usually, the ones that are illegal aliens are usually in the Sureno gang members,? says Savage.

Savage, as he?s known on the street, was born in Mexico. A legal resident savage has lived in the United States since he was one and a half years old. He has no visible tattoos and flashes a mouthful of braces when he smiles. Even so he runs with the Norteno?s, the gang that native-born citizens belong to.

?Lots of people always ask me why, but I feel like I?ve been raised here. My first language is pretty much English. And all my friends have always been into that stuff, so, yeah,? he says.

Miguel de la Rosa, 28 years old, is also a Mexican immigrant and a green card holder. His left arm bears a tattoo, a sign of his allegiances. The words ?hecho en Mexico,? made in Mexico, surround the Sureno gang?s eagle, and they brand his left forearm with proof of his gang past.

?Well, when I got here, it was tough for me because I didn?t understand anything. I didn?t understand any English. And everyone would ask me where I was from. I would tell them, from Mexico,? says de la Rosa.

Eleven years apart-- different gang affiliations. Savage is an active gang member. De la Rosa walked away from that life ten years ago. But it doesn?t matter whether they picked the citizen?s gang or the immigrant?s gang. As green card holders, both Savage and de la Rosa would be at risk under the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. A gang provision calls for deportation of any non-citizen known to be or believed to be in a gang.

Bill Hing is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis. He says the provision?s ?reason to believe? clause expands the definition of illicit gang activity to include suspected but not necessarily proven criminal involvement.

?By just being in a neighborhood or a community, where there may be some individuals who have engaged in bad activity, there could be an interpretation that you are associated with criminal gangs,? says Hing.

The Immigration bill died in the Senate in June--and with it the gang provision--but it reflects an ongoing effort by legislators to create harsher penalties for immigrants who break the law. In recent years new federal laws have expanded the list of deportable crimes. Local and federal agencies have launched anti gang efforts with the governments of Mexico and El Salvador, but despite these strategies every year more and more young people join gangs in San Jose, in California, and across the U.S.

Getting young people to cut their gang ties is a difficult and often long process says Juan Avila. He?s the director of Clean Slate, a San Jose based gang intervention program funded by public and private contributions. An important step to leaving behind a gang life, he says, is tattoo removal. But to help young people to abandon gang-banging, it takes a plan to penetrate deep into a gang member?s heart and mind.

?Lots of times we don?t talk about the tattoo that?s on the outside, we talk about the tattoo that?s on the inside. That needs to change first, and then everything else will blossom out if that?s what they want to do to become productive citizens,? says Avila.

And if you talk to gang members they will tell you it takes a lot more than a threat of deportation to get them to change their lives. It?s about identity, says Norteno gang member, Savage

?I think I have a lot to lose, a lot a lot to lose. But It?s just that it?s how I?ve been, it?s who I hang out with, it? just a decision that I took,? he says.

And exactly what does it take to give that commitment a second thought? Life, says former Sureno gang member de la Rosa.

?After I got shot. I was with some people in front of a friend?s house?My friend?s cousin came to pick us up, but I was outside in the car. And, I got out of the car, and we started to argue. And, they took out a gun and started shooting. The doctor said I nearly lost my life because they almost hit my arterial vein?but Thank God it just went straight through,? says de la Rosa.

And like the bullet de la Rosa went straight. He abandoned his gang-banging ways. Ten years ago, and thinking back on his life, he?s candid about the fears that afflict even the hardest of hearts.

?Everyone at some is afraid. Me, well what makes me afraid is to be alone, having nothing. Loneliness makes me afraid,? says de la Rosa.

And even Savage, despite his tough-guy attitude, can name one weak point between him and his gang-banging lifestyle. One thing, one fear that could make him think twice about where his loyalties lie.

?Seeing my mother being sad, for something that I did.?

The knock on the door, a classmate letting savage know that his mom is waiting for him outside, ready to take him home.

For Next Generation Radio, I?m Jacqueline Jove in San Jose.