Hispanic Girl Gangs Prowl Portland

Fueled by Washington's open door immigrant policy, Hispanic gangs are growing in numbers throughout the US. Now Hispanic girls are taking to the fore of the gang movement, establishing their own gangs in Portland, Oregon, and its suburbs.

'It's big time,' said John Sena, a member of the Clackamas County Youth Gang Task Force. 'It's unlike anything in local history. We're having almost as many referrals for females as we are for males.'

Police and others who work with teenagers say at least three separate Latina gangs operate in the Portland area, with activity noted in Portland, Beaverton, Canby, Hillsboro, Gresham and Milwaukie.

'There's been a transition,' said Officer Russ Corno of the Portland Police Bureau's Gang Enforcement Team. 'A few years ago, the female gang members were viewed as property of the male gang members. For them to branch out and form their own gangs under their own names is really something that we're only seeing in the last two years.'

He said most Latina gang members are in their early to mid-teens and gang activity typically involves graffiti and intimidation. He worries that the seriousness of their crimes will increase as the girls get older and the gangs become more established.

No doubt a "cultural studies" or "ethnic studies" professor from some state university will soon pop up on TV to argue this as a positive example of modern feminism in the Hispanic community. The dramatic rise in gang activity for all racial groups throughout the US has paralelled the disintegration of stable family structures - which the gangs serve to replace. Gang activity has spread from major urban centers to even small towns. Poverty and a lack of parental supervision (or presence) drive young people to join gangs.

Sena said female gangs take their cues from their male counterparts and many impoverished Latina gang members have boyfriends in gangs and sometimes rely on them for basics such as food and shelter.

'Some of these kids eat a piece of bread for breakfast,' Sena said.

But intimidation and peer pressure also play a major role in convincing young people to seek gang affiliation. Once gangs become established in a given area, violence and criminal activity rise and local teenagers are usually faced with the choice seeking the protection of gang membership or being targeted by the gang.

Rebecca, a Milwaukie-area teenager who declined to give her last name, said she joined Latin Babes, one of the largest Latina gangs in the area, for protection after getting involved in several fights.

She said Latin Babes has about 35 members in Milwaukie, who range in age from 13 to 18.

'We tag,' she said, using a slang term for graffiti. 'If we see girls we don't like, we'll jump them and take their stuff. We get into trouble. Basically, all we do is go party.'

Rebecca said she has been arrested twice for spraying graffiti. She said she gets good grades but skipped school at least two days in February because she feared she would have to fight a rival gang member.

The decline in stable family structures is being accelerated by mass illegal immigration - mostly from Mexico and Central and South America. The presence of so many illegal immigrants drives down wages and benefits for lower class workers, putting financial strain on families at the lower end of the economic sprectrum and driving both parents to keep full-time (and occasionally multiple) jobs just to keep the family solvent. Parents working such long hours cannot properly supervise their children. Of course, this trend - made worse by divorce, the welfare system and the rise in single parenthood - is not limited to Hispanics and has been worsening in the US for decades, but the disastrous social and economic consequences of mass illegal immigration have radically increased the pressure on families. That pressure is now spreading up the economic ladder into the middle class. The rise in gang activity is a sign of serious social decay; the advent of girl gangs represents a dangerous warning sign.