Police have arrested six reputed Long Island gang members as part of a nationwide sweep to push gangs out of communities.

Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff says 2,000 arrests of violent gang members have been made nationwide in the last year, with 375 in the past two weeks. Chertoff relates the war on gang violence to the war against terror.

Critics say that intervention, not incarceration, is the solution to the gang problem. Former gang member Sergio Argueta says it is a crackdown on illegal immigrants, not gang violence. Argueta says the charges of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct do not prove the suspects are violent, but is just an excuse to deport immigrants.