WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal agents have arrested more than 1,300 suspected gang members, including 343 with violent criminal histories, in the past three months, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Tuesday.



Gang weapons and paraphernalia are displayed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2006.



"Violent foreign-born gang members and their associates have more than worn out their welcome, and to them I have one message: good riddance," Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a news release.



Of those arrested, 374 face criminal charges, officials said. The rest face deportation, they said.



During the nationwide crackdown, immigration and customs agents worked with law enforcement counterparts in 23 cities in what officials described as a "summer surge."



The most arrests were made in the New York area (205) and Miami, Florida (160), but gang members were arrested in cities as small as Boise, Idaho, and Fort Smith, Arkansas.  Watch agents in action in suspected gang roundup »



Myers told a Washington news conference that some of "the worst of the worst" gang offenders had been taken off U.S. streets.



One of the gangs targeted has been MS-13, which is believed to be the fastest growing group in the United States as well as one of the most violent, the agency said.



The FBI estimates MS-13 has about 10,000 members in the country, along with tens of thousands in Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador, where the gang originated in the late 1980s.



"MS-13 still seems to be the primary gang and the most violent gang still out there, and it is penetrating throughout the United States," said Marcy Forman, director of investigations for the agency.



Don Hunter, sheriff of Collier County in southwest Florida, said MS-13 was present in what he called the "upscale" community.



"We are not unique, we have transnational gangs, we have homegrown gangs," Hunter told the news conference. But he said cooperation among federal and local agencies had made it possible to put a dent in gang operations.



The sweep was part of the agency's Operation Community Shield anti-gang initiative, which started in 2005, and has resulted in arrests of more than 7,000 alleged members and their associates from more than 600 gangs, the agency said. E-mail to a friend



CNN's Kelli Arena and Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.
How many people are facing criminal charges? Who conducted the sweep? What will happen to those who do not face criminal charges? How many faced criminial charges? How many cities had arrests? Arrests took place in how many cities? What number of cities did the arrests happen in? When was the initiative started?
374 Federal agents deportation, 374 23 23 23 2005,
question: How many people are facing criminal charges?, answer: 374 | question: Who conducted the sweep?, answer: Federal agents | question: What will happen to those who do not face criminal charges?, answer: deportation, | question: How many faced criminial charges?, answer: 374 | question: How many cities had arrests?, answer: 23 | question: Arrests took place in how many cities?, answer: 23 | question: What number of cities did the arrests happen in?, answer: 23 | question: When was the initiative started?, answer: 2005,