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MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, has between 6,000 and 10,000 members in 46 states, according to FBI statistics. The gang, which takes its name from the Salvadoran peasants who fought in the country’s 1980-1992 civil war, emerged in impoverished Los Angeles neighborhoods among refugees fleeing the conflict. At the time, their main purpose was to protect a nascent Salvadoran community against more established African-American and Mexican gangs, law-enforcement experts say. Since the late 1980s, the gang has spread to Central American communities across the US. Its members are involved in drugs and sex trafficking. Some are affiliated with Mexican drug cartels....

Officials in El Salvador held emergency meetings after seeing a sharp increase in the number of violent gang members being deported back to the country from the United States under the Trump administration. Salvadoran authorities have held emergency meetings and proposed new legislation to monitor returning criminals and gang members that are returning to El Salvador after deportation, according to the Washington Post. The move by Salvadoran officials comes as a direct result of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and efforts to deport more criminal illegal aliens from the U.S. This year the U.S. has already deported 398...

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said that a whistleblower turned over documents that showed more than a dozen apprehended illegal alien teenagers–who admitted to being MS-13 members–were released by the Obama Administration to homes throughout the United States. Citing internal documents, Johnson said that the teens were moved to juvenile homes after being released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “CBP apprehended them, knew they were MS-13 gang members, and they processed and disbursed them into our communities,” Johnson said. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) criticized the release of the documents by the whistleblower

SAN SALVADOR — The Trump administration’s push to deport more Central American gang members has alarmed officials here who fear the returning gangsters could exacerbate violence in one of the deadliest countries in the hemisphere. This year, the U.S. government has deported 398 gang members to this country, compared with 534 in all of 2016, according to Salvadoran government statistics. This sharp increase in the rate of gang deportations — and the prospect of more gang roundups in the United States — have prompted Salvadoran authorities to hold emergency meetings and propose new legislation to monitor suspected criminals who are...

he Obama administration knowingly let in at least 16 admitted MS-13 gang members who arrived at the U.S. as illegal immigrant teenagers in 2014, a top senator said Wednesday, citing internal documents that showed the teens were shipped to juvenile homes throughout the country. Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said a whistleblower turned over Customs and Border Protection documents from 2014 detailing the 16 persons who were caught crossing the border. “CBP apprehended them, knew they were MS-13 gang members, and they processed and disbursed them into our communities,” Mr. Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, said. The...

The Obama administration knowingly let in at least 16 admitted MS-13 gang members who arrived at the U.S. as illegal immigrant teenagers in 2014, a top senator said Wednesday, citing internal documents that showed the teens were shipped to juvenile homes throughout the country. Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said a whistleblower turned over Customs and Border Protection documents from 2014 detailing the 16 persons who were caught crossing the border. “CBP apprehended them, knew they were MS-13 gang members, and they processed and disbursed them into our communities,” Mr. Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, said. The...

NEW YORK—Schools have become the crucible for intimidation and recruitment into the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang on Long Island and around the country. One Long Island mother, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal from MS-13, said she and several other parents have taken their teenagers out of the local high school because they’ve become targets of the gang. Some children are being homeschooled and, in a few extreme cases, sent to stay with relatives out of the state. “I am scared to death,” the mother said. “It’s a crapshoot. I feel like we’re rolling the dice...

A six-week nationwide gang operation led by federal investigators led to 208 arrests in New Jersey - and 1,378 arrests across the U.S. A six-week nationwide gang operation led by federal investigators led to 208 arrests in New Jersey - and 1,378 arrests across the United States. One of the largest federal gang busts gang members and associates involved in transnational criminal activity, including drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human smuggling and sex trafficking, murder and racketeering, according to a release from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations unit. HSI said it arrested 104 gang members, in...

The Trump administration has concluded a six-week nationwide sweep of suspected gang members with 1,378 arrests — the largest such gang sweep conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to date. The operation, which ran from March 26 through May 6, targeted gang members and associates involved in transnational criminal activity, including drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human smuggling, sex trafficking, murder and racketeering. “Gangs threaten the safety of our communities, not just in major metropolitan areas, but in our suburbs and rural areas, too,” ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan said Thursday. “Gang-related violence and criminal...

Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco took to the airwaves Sunday to bash President Obama’s immigration policies — blaming him for the recent rash of murders linked to MS-13 gang activities across Long island — while lauding U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recent visit to address local law enforcement on the same topic. “In the community of Brentwood, where there is a big El Salvadoran population, we have had over the last nine months or so 11 bodies turned [sic] up,” Sheriff DeMarco told John Catsimatidis during an early morning interview on “The Cats Roundtable.” The victims, many of whom were...

As President Trump makes headway in eliminating ISIS, another brutal gang called MS-13 has raised its ugly head in the “sanctuary cities” of America. These cities will hide these gangs and offer them a refuge. A refuge from what? Among other things, American law enforcement, President Trump, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions and Trump have made a promise to the American people they will be safe from this Gang’s takeover of American neighborhoods. Whether the neighborhood is a small town, a city, or a rural area, this El Salvadorian gang helps themselves in preying upon American citizens. They are...

NEW YORK — Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested a Salvadoran national on administrative immigration violations Thursday after he was identified by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York special agents as a MS-13 gang member.Hector Flamenco, 41, a citizen and national of El Salvador, entered the United States in August 1996. He has a felony conviction of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams, or more, of cocaine in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York and received a sentence of 121 months imprisonment."ERO has always focused...

Late at night, when helicopters thrum overhead and spotlights beam down onto lawns, many people here know exactly what's going on. "You just think, 'Oh, God, whose child is it now?'" said Stephanie Spezia, a longtime resident of this suburb in the heart of Long Island that is caught in the grip of a violent street gang with Central American ties, MS-13. MS-13 has been blamed for a trail of 11 corpses of mostly young people discovered in woods and vacant lots in Brentwood and neighboring Central Islip since the start of the school year. The bloodshed in the two...

There are more than 200 members of the violent, El Salvadorian MS-13 gang in the Long Island, New York area, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force Director Geraldine Hart told NBC New York in an interview that members of MS-13 “bolster their ranking among other gangs by using violence.” Hart told the media that the MS-13 gang problem, specifically as its members are usually illegal immigrants, is a national issue across the U.S. “This is not a local problem,” Hart told NBC New York. “This is a national and international problem. We...

Drug smugglers are being helped by the Democratic leaders in Congress who are trying to block funding for a border wall, says President Donald Trump. He is using Twitter to hit the Democrats as enablers for the criminal gangs that are smuggling deadly drugs into American cities and towns around the nation, and which are sending murderous MS-13 gang members into Americans’ neighborhoods. The strategy makes sense because it is true, and because many of the Americans who will vote in 2018 are increasingly concerned about the rising death toll from Mexican-supplied heroin and other drugs. In July 2016, Breitbart...

The Criminal Super Gang, MS-13, has a 30 year history in the US and yet Donald Trump appears to be the first President to attempt a serious take-down. Under Barrack Obama, several “fiscal targeting operations” were attempted to reduce their money supply, and massive operations put in place against “some” of the members (6 to be precise). But the one thing that could have actually destroyed them outright was never even considered: stopping illegal immigration. 60-70 percent of current U.S. members in MS-13 are immigrants, the majority of which could be illegal, and the remaining percent are likely born to...

MS-13, a group that was started by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s, is known for its ruthless and violent tactics. Most of the founding members were from El Salvador and fled to the U.S. during the country’s civil war that lasted 12 years, from 1980-92. Since then the gang’s membership has ballooned to at least 10,000 members in the United States and more than 30,000 worldwide, according to the FBI and Treasury Department. “[MS-13] is one of the most dangerous and rapidly expanding criminal gangs in the world today,” Philip Holloway, a legal analyst and former...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the MS-13 gang could be designated as a terrorist organization. Asked by Fox News's Tucker Carlson on Tuesday whether he thinks the designation would be helpful, Sessions replied, “I think so, perhaps. I believe it could qualify for that." "There are rules that I guess the State Department does to establish that," he added. El Salvador's government has already designated MS-13 a terrorist group. Sessions called the gang "one of the most violent gangs in the history of our country." “We can devastate this gang. We’re going after them," he said. "We’re not going to...

(THE HILL - Barf Alert) Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the MS-13 gang could be designated as a terrorist organization. Asked by Fox News's Tucker Carlson on Tuesday whether he thinks the designation would be helpful, Sessions replied, “I think so, perhaps. I believe it could qualify for that." ADVERTISEMENT "There are rules that I guess the State Department does to establish that," he added. El Salvador's government has already designated MS-13 a terrorist group. Sessions called the gang "one of the most violent gangs in the history of our country." “We can devastate this gang. We’re going after them,"...

Authorities say the victims had suffered significant head trauma and other serious injuriesA teenager visiting New York with family for spring break was among the four young people found brutally killed in a park in a Long Island neighborhood that has for years contended with a growing problem of gang violence. Jefferson Villalobos was one of the victims found dead in Central Islip Recreation Village Park Wednesday night, his cousin Yensy Fuentes told News 4 Friday. He had been on vacation with his grandmother, and arrived from Pompano, Florida, last Friday, to visit family in Brentwood.Villabolos, who would have turned...