President Trump, along with Attorney General William Barr, announced nationwide action against the violent street gang known as MS-13 today from the White House.
Twenty-one high-ranking MS-13 figures have been indicted on charges of murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking in Nevada and New York in sweeping operations taking place over the last week.
It was also announced today that U.S. Attorney Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia issued the first charge against an alleged MS-13 member for providing material support to terrorists.
“We have the MS-13 leader on charges of terrorism — that’s a first,” Trump said during the Oval Office announcement. “We believe the monsters who murder children should be put to death,” he added.
The Justice Department will seek the death penalty against Alexi Saenz, an alleged leader of MS-13 in New York, who according to authorities was involved in the murder of seven, including two teenage girls from Long Island, Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens.
Cuevas and Mickens were butchered with machetes and baseball bats in 2016 by MS-13 gang members.
AG Barr in remarks from the Oval Office today, called the street gang a “death cult,” whose main objective is “violence and terrorizing people.”
Attorney General William Barr called MS-13 a “death cult” whose “basic purpose” is “violence and terrorizing people,” while describing “Project Vulcan” with Trump in the Oval Office pic.twitter.com/6Cs0ssAIko
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) July 15, 2020
President Trump made targeting MS-13 members a priority during his presidential campaign in 2016.
Photo by The White House