http://www.americanchronicle.com/articl ... cleID=5956

By John W. Slagle
February 16, 2006

The Immigration Act passed by Congress in 1990 increased legal immigration ceilings by 40 per cent. The Act also tripled employment based Immigration, which emphasized needed skills creating a diversity admissions category. Temporary protected status was also established for those foreign nationals jeopardized by armed conflict or natural disasters in native countries.

The Act provided for immigration hearings for 150,000 illegal Guatemalans and El Salvadorians that were denied political asylum from 1980 to 1990. Allocation of Immigrant Visas among foreign nations would also increase worldwide Immigration to the United States. Family unification was also considered a priority for Visa issuance, and chain migrations were created.

Mara Salvatrucha or MS gang members are an affiliation of El Salvadorian nationals as well as Central Americans from Honduras. Formed in El Salvador, Mara SalvatruchaCriminal activities have included extortion, rape and homicides prior to the 1980 Civil War.

Violence and criminal operations were well known by authorities in San Salvador as well as the United States. Many suspected gang members crossed the U.S. Border and were granted political asylum prior to the 1990 Immigration Act.Despite Agent’s recommendations for deportation as excludable criminal aliens, few were ever returned to El Salvador after hearings before the Bureau of Immigration Appeals.

Thousands entered without being apprehended and traveled to Los Angeles, California where they established the MS-13 and declared war on rival gangsters. From human trafficking, drugs to murders, the violence has never ceased from 1980, early Los Angeles to events in 2006. Gang strength is growing and spreading nationwide.

Per the Federal Bureau of Investigation, MS-13 has operations in 33 states with an estimated 10,000 gang members and is one of more dangerous gangs in the United States.