Reports show the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is transferring thousands of unaccompanied illegal minors, some of whom have already been identified as gang members by U.S. Border Patrol agents, to large U.S. cities that rank among the top strongholds of the American gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. As CNSNews reports, a 2008 report indicates that MS-13 is one of two predominantly Latino gangs whose membership has spread from the Los Angeles area to other U.S. communities. MS-13 and the 18th Street gang (M-18), the report states, are becoming “transnational,” in that they are being established in Central America and Mexico. The report continues: “Evidence suggests that these gangs are engaged in criminal enterprises normally associated with better organized and more sophisticated crime syndicates,” and “gang members may be involved in smuggling operations and, by extension, could potentially use their skills and criminal networks to smuggle terrorists into the United States.” Cities listed as strongholds of MS-13 include Washington, D.C. and the surrounding Northern Virginia area, Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, Baltimore, and Nashville. The more than 57,000 illegal unaccompanied minors who have flooded across the U.S. border from Mexico since October of last year have come from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador – all countries with strong ties to MS-13 and other Latin American gangs and crime operations. HHS has transferred many of these illegal minors, who are waiting for their cases to be heard by an immigration judge, to shelters primarily run by non-profit groups and religious organizations. A map published by NumbersUSA identifies cities in which temporary shelters have been set up for the young illegal immigrants. At least half of the top MS-13 strongholds in the U.S. are located in these cities. U.S. Border Patrol officers have consistently reported that many of the young illegal immigrants are members of gangs such as MS-13 and have come into the United States with tattoos that identify their membership. Due to regulations in federal law, however, these gang members are treated as innocent minors. Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News that MS-13 members have crossed the southwest U.S. border in the recent flood of young unaccompanied illegal minors and are, in fact, using Red Cross phones at federal detention facilities to coordinate gang activity.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 03:51:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015