267 members of the MS-13 gang were detained in the US

Law enforcement agencies in the United States on Thursday reported the arrest of members of the MS-300 criminal group about 13, which the Trump administration promised to eradicate.

According to "Voice of America", the arrests were made in recent weeks as part of a major crackdown on organized crime codenamed 'Raging Bull'. As a result of the operation, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 214 MS-13 members were detained in the United States and 53 in El Salvador, where the group’s main base is located.

A two-phase operation aimed against members of MS-13 and their international financial network was launched under the administration of Barack Obama, and gained momentum under President Trump.

The first one and a half year phase ended in September and ended with an arrest of 51 in El Salvador, officials said at a press conference in Washington.

The second phase, which lasted from October 8 to November 11, led to the latest arrests in the United States and El Salvador.

Administration efforts

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions welcomed the arrests as an important step in the efforts of the Trump administration to eradicate MS-13, whose members were implicated in a number of high-profile killings in the country.

“President Trump instructed the Justice Department to reduce crime and eradicate international criminal groups, and we will work tirelessly in this direction,” said Sessions, announcing the arrests. “That's why I instructed our work groups to combat drug trafficking to apply all available laws to arrest and convict MS-13 members, pass judgment on them and deny them funding.”

The only street gang that the Ministry of Finance recognizes as an international criminal organization, MS-13, also known as Mara salvatrucha, has almost 10 000 members in the United States. These are mainly immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

A Department of Justice statement said that most of the 214 members of the gang arrested in the US are from El Salvador, and 64 of them illegally entered the country when they were under age and without an adult.

16 arrested are US citizens, five of them reside legally in the country.

Trump connects the entry of criminals into the country with the soft immigration policies of the Obama administration.

Eradication MS-13

In February, Trump commissioned the Ministry of Justice double efforts to combat MS-13 and other international criminal organizations.

The Ministry of Justice states that it is fulfilling this mandate exactly.

Last month, Sessions formally identified MS-13 as a priority for working groups to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, which includes members of several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

This allows working groups, usually focused on organized crime and drug trafficking, to apply various legal acts to combat the grouping, including laws on arms control and the tax code.

According to the Ministry of Justice, this year they managed to get convictions for 1 200 members of the group and indict 4 000 of arrested MS-13 members in El Salvador.

“These 267 arrests are the next step in improving the security of our country by permanently driving MS-13 from our streets,” said Seshns.

The deputy director of the Immigration and Customs Police, Thomas Homan, added that the fight against the group has long been a priority for the agency.

“But now we are fighting a group with heightened attention and an unprecedented level of cooperation between units of the Ministry of Internal Security and our partners inside and outside the country,” he said.

Ранее ForumDaily told the story of one of the most dangerous street gangs in the world - MS-13. You can read the story here.

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