/ Modified jun 14, 2017 11:28 a.m.

FBI Suspects Record Numbers of MS-13 Gang Members Entering US

The gang that started in El Salvador in the 1980s is now active in 42 U.S. States.

MS-13 Gang graffiti MS-13 gang graffiti on a wall.
Courtesy of FBI

Federal officials said they are bracing themselves for a wave of Central American gang members posing as refugees to enter and seek asylum in the U.S.

In an FBI threat assessment, the bureau warned that there are preliminary intelligence reports that indicate MS-13 gang members are attempting to cross the Arizona border, and other U.S. southern borders, in record numbers. They are crossing quietly, according to the report, and mingling in with other groups of immigrants.

Agent Vicente Paco from the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol said there is heightened concern because MS-13 gang members are known for violence towards women. Women and children trying to enter the U.S. illegally are especially vulnerable, he said.

“Many of them cross in groups of more than five or six individuals," Paco said. "There are women and children around this individual. He poses a threat to the agents, to the individuals he’s crossing with and to the community he intends to reside in.”

MS-13 Man Arrested VIEW LARGER
Customs and Border Protection

The three Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are known as the violent Northern Triangle. At the core of the violence is MS-13, a gang that started in the 1980s during the civil war in El Salvador. It has become a transnational criminal enterprise that the FBI calls the fastest-growing violent gang in the world.

Tucson Police say MS-13 gang members in Tucson are nothing new, but that there has been an increase in gang activity that started with the influx of Central American refugees in 2014.

MORE: Immigration, News
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona