Feds nab MS-13 leader in Virginia, challenge sanctuary cities to work with Trump

Authorities announced on Thursday the arrest of MS-13’s top leader on the East Coast, saying they had taken a “very violent” man off the streets in what they described as a rebuke to sanctuary city policies.

The FBI declined to reveal the 24-year-old man’s name or much about his criminal history, citing “operational security.” Officials said he is a Salvadoran migrant who had been recruited into the gang at a young age and had been operating out of Dale City in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, one of the national hotspots for Mara Salvatrucha. The migrant man was in the U.S. illegally.

“America is safer today because of one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13 is off the streets,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Officials also cast the arrest as a proof of concept for a new task force between federal and Virginia authorities, suggesting it would not have been possible under the Biden administration.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, said he had been trying to work the gang issue for three years with no help from President Biden. But on Day One things changed with the Trump team, with whom he signed an agreement deputizing state police to cooperate on immigration enforcement.

“Until we were able to bring in the federal resources in this way, bringing down somebody like this would not have been possible,” Mr. Youngkin said.

Ms. Bondi said they’ll offer the same cooperation to other states — including those that have sanctuary policies that restrict cooperation with the federal government to shield immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

“Let’s see who takes us up on this,” the attorney general said.

It was not clear Thursday whether the man had been arrested on criminal charges or was taken into custody on immigration violations, though the fact that the operation was led by the FBI strongly suggests a criminal investigation.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the man had been living in Virginia for “far too long.”

Erik S. Siebert, the U.S. attorney in eastern Virginia, said the man was one of 575 targets the task force has developed. More than 80 of those have been arrested and identified as having gang or transnational crime affiliation, he said.

The arrest comes at a time when more attention is being paid to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based gang that has spread throughout the hemisphere over the last decade, including gaining a foothold in the U.S. during Mr. Biden’s tenure. That was aided by relaxed border policies that made it easy for Venezuelans to enter, and gave them quasi-legal status once in the U.S.

Despite its lower profile now, MS-13 remains a significant threat, experts said.

The gang is largely comprised of Central American migrants, and U.S.-based “cliques” are controlled by leaders in El Salvador who approve major actions and collect proceeds from gang activity.

MS-13 is associated with violent, headline-grabbing killings such as that of a Falls Church, Virginia, high school student who was stabbed and then set on fire and a Seattle-area teen who was bludgeoned and then dismembered.

Members engage in drug dealing and extortion, often targeting migrant-run businesses in their communities. They live by a strict code of silence in dealing with authorities and are known to kill based on social media posts they believe indicate someone is a member of the rival 18th Street gang.

MS-13 had suffered setbacks late in the previous decade, thanks to a concerted law enforcement push and a series of racketeering cases that took down clique leaders from Boston to Virginia to Los Angeles.

But experts said MS-13, like TdA, grew stronger under Mr. Biden.

“MS-13 was able to expand their ranks in the United States again, after having been disrupted a lot under Trump operations,” said Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies. “They were able to come right back again, taking advantage of lenient policies at the border, to come in and grow their ranks.”

The surge of unaccompanied children and families was particularly helpful for MS-13, which recruits heavily from those populations. Experts have told The Washington Times the gang even used the shelters that the government operates to hold unaccompanied children as a recruiting space.

Jonathan Fahey, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia and senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said making such a high-profile show of the arrest this week could be a deterrent to future recruitment.

“It shows how much of a priority the administration is placing on gangs and organized crime,” Mr. Fahey said.

Mr. Youngkin said the arrest is also a challenge to sanctuary cities.

“Look who’s in your community,” he said. “We have one of the top three operatives from one of the most dangerous gangs in America and the world living around the corner and you sanctuary cities want to give refuge to that.”