Situation Worsens
Back Door Remains Open
By
Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.
thelastcrusade.org
Something bad is taking place at the border.
“We’re seeing a lot of MS-13,” says Agent Mike Scioli of the U.S. Border Patrol. “They’re typically known to be guns for hire, they’re known to smuggle narcotics and human traffic across the border illegally.”MS-13 stands for Mara Salvatrucha, the most violent street gang in the western hemisphere.
Last week Border Patrol agents arrested two MS-13 members: one in Tucson and one in Nogales.
The Nogales arrestee was identified by his tattoos – - the letter M on his right bicep; the letter S on his left; the number 1 on his right triceps; the number 3 on his left.
“He was already deported from Los Angeles back to Mexico and he was attempting to re-enter to join back up with his gang,” Scioli says.
Tucson’s Border Patrol Sector is the busiest in the U.S. Last year its agents arrested about 317,000 illegal immigrants. Scioli says 16 percent, or almost 50,000, had some type of criminal record.
But the presence of MS-13 merits special concern.
They specialize in transporting arms and drugs across the border. Most of the weapons come from El Salvador – - the homeland of most of the gang members – - where a hand grenade sells for $10; an M-16 rifle for $200; and an AK-47 for $1,500. The Maras have made a fortune by purchasing such weapons and selling them to members of other street gangs throughout the U.S.
In recent years, the Maras have taken over drug routes that had been established by other Latino gangs. At present, nearly 90 percent of the cocaine and marijuana that flows into the states comes from Mexico and the lion’s share from the trafficking remains under the control of MS. The drug business is so brisk that the gang has set up large warehouses to store the illicit drugs in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas.
Along with importing, the Maras also engage in exporting stolen goods from the U.S. to Latin America – - including massive amounts of baby formula, health and beauty supplies, cologne and perfume, and diabetes test strips from Texas; electronics from Arizona and California; and automobiles from nearly every state in the Southwest.
According to gang investigators from the District Attorney’s Office in Orange County, California, 80% of the cars on the streets of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have been stolen from the United States by members of Mara Salvatrucha.
Thousands of MS members now occupy prison cells from Maine to California for such crimes as trafficking in illegal narcotics, home invasion, burglary, carjacking, extortion, witness intimidation, rape and murder, including the assassinations of three federal agents.
Many migrants who want to cross the 1,820 mile border between Mexico and the United States must come to terms with more than three thousand MS gang members who keep watch over the border crossings like turkey vultures.
The going rate for safe passage is $5,000. Families without the requisite cash are compelled to relinquish all their possessions – - family heirlooms, gold necklaces, silver bracelets, wedding rings, even their shoes and sombreros. Those with neither money nor tangible goods must come up with other offerings, including the sexual favors of their wives and children.
Those who resist payment are often hacked to pieces or tossed from moving trains. “There are hundreds who are pushed off trains by the Maras if they resist the robberies,” says Asdrubal Aguilar Zepeda, the Salvadoran counsel in Tapachula, Mexico, near the Guatemalan border. The bodies and body parts of dead migrants are often strewn along the railroad tracks from Tapachula to the northern regions of Mexico.
By controlling the leading passageways into the U.S., Mara Salvatrucha has transmogrified into a multimillion dollar enterprise, and, by so doing, has become a leading international Mafia.
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