MS-13 is a transnational gang from Central America which operates in multiple US cities and engages in list of violent crimes, including drug trafficking, murder, rape, prostitution, robbery, home invasions and kidnapping - with their highest level of concentration in the Northeast and West Coast, according to an FBI report.
Horrendous Crimes
In September 2016, the bodies of two teenage girls - Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens - were found in Brentwood, NY.
According to CBS News, the heads and faces of the girls were mutilated in an "almost unmatched" fashion by 13 gang members - 10 of whom were illegal immigrants.
In late January, Nassau County police found the remains of Julio Cesar Gonzales-Espantzay, a 19-year-old immigrant was found hacked to death by gang members with knives and machetes.
Recently, an illegal named Antonio Cullal defiantly flashed gang signals to cameras as he was arrested for the murder of Gonzales-Espantzay.
Last January, in Fairfax County, VA, the body of 15-year-old Damaris Reyes Rivas was found brutally bludgeon to death as "payback" for her alleged part in the death of an MS-13 member.
Recently, jurors found Wilmer Sanchez-Serrano - an illegal immigrant - guilty of the gang related murder of Rivas. Ten others have also been charged.
It is a pattern of violence throughout the US with a common denominator: many of the violent crimes involve immigrant youths, some of whom are illegal.
ICE turns up heat
Recognizing this, ICE conducted its largest nationwide raid from April-May, netting over 1,300 gang members - 104 of whom were MS-13 members, with another 118 Sureños members who back MS-13.
Of the 10 illegals captured during this raid, nine were MS-13 members.
In June, a separate ICE raid netted 39 MS-13 members - of which 15 were illegals. While just last week, 232 illegal immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area were arrested, including 180 who were violent criminals.
As of year-to-date, a total of 350 MS-13 members have been arrested in federal raids.
Concurrently, the Trump era Department of Justice has cranked up MS-13 deportations to the point that El Salvador officials are panicking over the flood of gang members returning from the US.
However, the porous border remains a source of the problem.
In Texas, for example, MS-13 has assisted in the trafficking of illegal immigrants into the country - many of whom later join MS-13.
Trumping Congress
"I want these criminals coming into our country to be stopped" said Evelyn Rodriguez, the mother of Kayla Cuevas, while urging Congressional Subcommittee in June to give federal law enforcement agencies the tools they need to combat the violence.
The combination of inner city violence and illegal immigration should have given an impetus to the Senate for speeding up approval of the President's budget, which included an increase in border patrol agents and $1.6B in funding for the wall. However, as Neil Munro pointed out, the final bill nixed funds for border security.
At a rally recently, President Trump vented his frustration over the violence and the inaction of lawmakers, "One by one we are finding the illegal alien drug dealers, the gang members, the thieves, the criminals and the killers preying on our children...and we are throwing them the hell out of our country...it's time for Congress to adopt a pro-American immigration agenda...blocking funds to sanctuary cities. I don't want to give sanctuary cities money. Passing Kate's law...increasing the number of [ICE] officers, who are fantastic, and border patrol officers so we can dismantle vile criminal gangs like...MS-13 animals."
Comment: But the democrats need their votes - whatever the cost.