Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest of the suspect, Henrry Santos, 24, in Prince William County, a Virginia suburb south of Washington, D.C.
Santos, an illegal immigration, was described as the leader of the gang’s East Coast operations after he was recruited by the notorious gang in middle school.
Bondi credited a task force that included the FBI, DEA, and U.S. Marshals which worked with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, ICE, to share information that led to his arrest.
Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, says the arrest of Santos should have happened during the previous four years of the Biden administration.
“First of all, they should never have been allowed into the country,” he says. “The border should never have been thrown open enabling them to get into the country.”
MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is a street gang composed of nationals from El Salvador. It is believed to operate in at least 40 U.S. states with 10,000 members who send money back to El Salvador’s top leaders by selling and distributing drugs, and by engaging in prostitution, gambling, and extortion.
Mehlman also credits the Trump administration for allowing ICE to find Santos and to make an arrest, which wasn’t allowed under Joe Biden.
“This is an example of ICE going out and doing its job, using the intelligence that they have to find where these people are, the ones who pose the greatest danger, and sweeping them up,” Mehlman observes.
After the arrest was announced, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin praised the Trump administration at a news conference but also told reporters the Biden administration refused to give state police a list of known criminals such as Santos.
Gov. Youngkin, who has deputized state police so they can work with ICE, also pointed out “sanctuary” policies in Democrat-led cities and counties in Virginia shield illegal aliens such as Santos.
“We have one of the top three operatives, from one of the most dangerous gangs in America and the world, living around the corner,” he told reporters.
Much like a sanctuary city protecting gang members, lawsuits filed against the Trump administration have helped stop the deportation of violent gang members from the U.S. to El Salvador and a prison cell.
Those lawsuits have been upheld by a liberal federal judge, James Boasberg, whose mid-March order to stop the deportations was upheld by a federal appeals court this week.
President Trump’s controversial use of the American Enemies Act to defend the deportations is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“There’s really no constituency, except for a few radical fringes,” Mehlman observes, “for keeping criminal aliens in the country.”
