Free Republic

“If the media and liberals want to defend MS-13, they’re more than welcome to,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters during Thursday’s briefing after media attempts to frame President Trump’s comments from the previous day as insulting to “some immigrants.” “I don’t think the term that the president used was strong enough,” she said. One reporter had asked Sanders about the president’s use of the word “animals” to describe members of the vicious MS-13 transnational gang but, instead, framed the question by saying Trump used the term to describe “some immigrants.” Sanders sharply corrected him by saying, “The...

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...