Foreign Affairs

Mexican Gov. Official Says MS-13 Infiltrated Caravans Headed For US: Reports

US-Mexico-border | Circa April 2006 | By User Larsinio on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Mexican authorities have found members of the violent gang MS-13 among migrant caravans headed towards the United States, multiple Mexican media outlets quoted a high-ranking government official as saying.

Enrique Cárdenas del Avellano, the Ministry of Interior’s northeastern regional delegate, said that authorities have deported some MS-13 gang members they detected in migrant caravans, Mexican media outlets La Prensa, El Mañana and La Verdad de Tamaulipas reported over the weekend.

Cárdenas del Avellano told the Spanish-language outlets that he doesn’t know how many MS-13 members are in the region.

MS-13 members are in “the minority” among caravan members but “do exist” and “seek to extend their networks, especially to the United States,” Cárdenas del Avellano told the outlets.

The transnational gang was launched in California by Salvadoran immigrants but has a formidable presence in other parts of the U.S. as well, particularly Long Island, New York.

The gang’s informal motto is “Mata, roba, viola, controla,” which translates to “kill, steal, rape, control.”

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