Tattoos on the chest of a 'Mara Salvatrucha' gang member US authorities are ready to deport hundreds of gang members to Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, in a war against a violent threat that has sown fear from America's cities to the rural midwest(AFP/File/Yuri Cortez) 
A 'Mara Salvatrucha' gang member. US authorities are ready to deport hundreds of gang members to Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, in a war against a violent threat that has sown fear from America's cities to the rural midwest(AFP/File/Yuri Cortez) 
Honduran MS or Mara Salvatrucha who's gang member alias is Snowy, center, with a tattoo of MS in his chest, sits with other detainees after a police operation in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Friday, Aug. 19, 2005. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) 
A member of the Central American street gang 'Mara Salvatrucha' looks up after being detained during a police operation in Tegucigalpa, Honduras August 19, 2005. Police continue to mount early morning raids in an effort to stamp out violent crime in the Central American nation. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo 
Honduran police escort members of the Central American street gang 'Mara Salvatrucha' after a police operation in Tegucigalpa, Honduras August 19, 2005. Police continue to mount early morning raids in an effort to stamp out violent crime in the Central American nation. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo 
Inmates belonging to the Mara 18 gang wait as they are kept separate from their rivals belonging to the Salvatrucha gang at the prison in Escuintla, Guatemala, 56 kms(34 miles) south of the capital Guatemala City, on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005. A well-coordinated series of riots at four prisons across Guatemala saw members of one gang attack another, killing more than 30 people and injured dozen more. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) 
Prison inmates belonging to the Mara 18 gang sit as they are kept separate from their rival Salvatrucha gang at the Escuintla's prision, 56 kms. (34 miles) south of the capital Guatemala City, Guatemala on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005. A well-coordinated series of riots at four prisons across Guatemala saw members of one gang attack another, killing more than 30 people and injured dozens more (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)