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A nationwide anti-gang operation led to the arrest of nearly 1,400 transnational and local gang members, including more than 200 in the Houston and Corpus Christi areas, federal officials said Thursday.

It was the largest round-up in the history of the Homeland Security Investigations, netting known members and affiliates from the Bloods, Crips, MS-13, Sureños and other gangs.

A cache of guns, drugs and money was also seized, including 238 firearms, 500 pounds of marijuana, 50 pounds of cocaine, 35 pounds of methamphetamine, seven pounds of heroin and a small amount of fentanyl, along with nearly $500,000.

"We targeted problem areas that are specific areas known to have gang-related crime and violence, specifically in Houston and Corpus and surrounding counties," said Sean McElroy, Houston's deputy special agent-in-charge for HSI, an investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

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Of the 1,378 people arrested, 445 were foreign nationals from 21 countries ranging from Guatemala to Kazakhstan to Mauritania. The rest were U.S. citizens.

In the Houston region, 207 people were arrested - the highest number of any region in the nation, officials said. Sixteen of the suspects face federal charges, while the majority of the remaining suspects were arrested on state charges.

The operation led to 43 arrests in Houston - slightly higher than last year - and 164 arrests in greater Corpus Christi, up from just 68 last year.

At least five MS-13 gang members in Houston were among eight people in the region arrested on administrative warrants for being in the country illegally, McElroy said.

"We identify these individuals as gang members," he said. "They may not have committed a specific crime in the federal, state or local realm. However, they're here illegally, and we're going to put them into deportation proceedings."

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In Corpus Christi, law enforcement picked up one Mexican Mafia gang member on an outstanding homicide warrant and a Tango Blast gang member who was arrested carrying two kilograms of methamphetamine and three pistols.

The operation comes as gang crimes have caught renewed attention from city and state leaders, particularly after a member of the 52 Hoover Crips shot two Houston police officers conducting anti-burglary operations in February and as the city grappled with a rise in gang shootings in the southeast Houston earlier this year.

A Texas Department of Public Safety threat assessment released in January warned of the specific danger posed by transnational gangs such as Tango Blast, the Latin Kings and MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha.

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"These groups pose the greatest gang threat to Texas due to their relationships with Mexican cartels, high levels of transnational criminal activity, high levels of violence, and overall statewide presence," the assessment noted.

In response to some of the activity, Gov. Greg Abbott said he was putting more resources into anti-gang operations in the Houston region.

Gang membership has been slowly rising in Houston over the last six years, according to a recent report the Houston Police Department's Gang Division prepared for city leaders, which estimated that approximately 20,000 gang members from 350 gangs lived in and around the city.

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HSI agents worked with task force members of Houston's Texas Anti-Gang Center in the round-up, which lasted several weeks.

"The impetus, more than anything else, was focusing on career individuals who took on characteristics of being criminals, being involved in violent crime," said George Rhyne, the TAG Center's administrator.

"Houston has been plagued with violent crime, especially related to aggravated robberies, aggravated assault and the increase in property crime," he said. "These are the people, typically, in most communities, that are committing property crime, violent crime, crimes against persons. So the objective is to remove these types of individuals to improve the quality of life."

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The impact of the anti-gang operation remains to be seen, said Nathan Jones, an assistant professor of security studies at Sam Houston State University.

"When it's part of a comprehensive package - that includes working with local communities ... I can see it being a good thing," Jones said. "If it's just - 'we're sweeping up people with warrants, and they're going to be back on the street real quick' - then it would have a limited effect."