More than 30 gang members with violent criminal histories are off our local streets. U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, did a mass arrest this week, taking in drug dealers, money launderers and dangerous criminals from eight different gangs.

ICE officials say 36 of those arrested were men, and one was a woman. 31 of them were known gang members, and six others just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Local families who are surrounded by the gang lifestyle say this latest round of arrests is just the tip of the iceberg.

We found a group of local mothers sitting in the shade at Miguel Ribera park, the same place where two teen aged boys were killed in a gang-related shooting last summer. The mothers say their biggest fear is watching their children enter the gang world.

The women told us they don't feel safe in the neighborhood, and wish their young children didn't have to see so much violence.

"Me and my mom are so sad because Alex died. My sister was sad because he got shot by his cousin," said one of the women's five-year-old son, Paco Mariscal.

Resident ICE Agent, Gregory White says the safety of local families is the exact reason for amped-up enforcement. He says the gang problem in our area far exceeds our population, and keeps getting worse.

The latest round of arrests targeted some of the most dangerous gang members in Reno. He says in the late 1990's, they usually concentrated only one or two neighborhoods, but now they've spread to every corner of Northern Nevada, and they're more difficult to track.

"We've found they spread out, moved a lot, relocated, expanded into areas they weren't known from before," said White.

White says the pressure mostly due to pressure from police and ICE agents, plus a push toward preventing gang violence, initiations, and most importantly deaths.

"We all know about drive-by shootings. Those still occur. Innocent people are involved. Fights among gang members escalate to include bystanders, children," said White.

The mothers at Miguel Ribera say they can't stand to see another young life lost, and they can only hope their young children haven't already seen and learned way too much.

"I don't want to be in a gang because I'm only five," said five-year-old Mariscal.

ICE agents say the gang members were living among all of us. The arrests took place in Reno, Sparks, Washoe, and Douglas Counties. They're being held in the Washoe County Jail until a deportation date or hearing is set.

Some will be held in more permanent ICE facilities while they're being processed. Most of those arrested will eventually be sent back to Mexico, although two came from El Salvador and one from Nicaragua.