The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested a top leader of the MS-13 gang in Virginia, the White House announced.
The 24-year-old man from El Salvador has been described as one of the gang’s top three leaders in the U.S.
“America is safer today because one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13, he is off the streets,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said of the arrest. “This has been an ongoing directive of President Trump. His directive to me when I became Attorney General of the United States was very simple: keep America safe.”
“We will not have another Laken Riley,” she added.
“It’s this effort that has been enabled by the Trump Administration. President Trump said, ‘Get the bad guys,’” Virginia Governor Glenn Younkin (R) said. “I’ve been working on this — literally — for the first three years of our administration with little to no help from the senior leadership in the federal government in the Biden Administration. On Day One [of President Trump’s second term], we went to work signing a 287(g) memorandum.”
Patel said the arrest is “what happens when you let good cops be cops, and we’re going to continue to let good cops be cops across this country. President Trump gave us the executive decision to go after and safeguard our communities.”
“If you are here illegally, you will not be here any longer — and if you are going to continue to commit acts of violent crime, you will meet the same fate that this individual did this morning,” Patel declared.
