The Trump administration has declared war on MS-13, the notoriously brutal gang based in El Salvador. According to a recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), MS-13 has seen a resurgence since 2012, after the Bush administration’s clampdown in 2005.

Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at CIS, says according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one-third of the MS-13 members that they arrest originally arrived in the country as unaccompanied minors.

“And this surge continues today,” she continues. “In the last four months, the Border Patrol has arrested 40,000 new illegal arrivals youths and family members from Central America. They keep getting released into our communities because of a loophole in the law and because of a Ninth Circuit judge’s ruling.”

Mehlman

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), says that loophole has allowed MS-13 to successfully establish a beachhead into the United States.

“MS-13 has spread across the country,” he asserts. “This is a violent and dangerous criminal organization. You can call it a criminal organization, you can call it a terrorist organization, but the bottom line is that MS-13 poses a danger on the streets of the United States.”

Mehlman and Vaughn agree that Congress needs to take steps to get these gang members off the streets.