Another MS-13 gang member arrested

September 1, 2008 - 7:02PM
FROM STAFF REPORTS
A member of a violent Central American gang is in custody after being arrested by Border Patrol agents over the weekend for illegally crossing the border near Yuma.

The illegal alien, whose name was not released by the Border Patrol, was the second member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang arrested in the Yuma area in the past two weeks, the patrol said in a news release.

The release said the Honduran alien admitted to being a member of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, considered by law enforcement to be one of the nation’s most violent gangs.

A fingerprint check revealed the Honduran alien had been arrested eight times in the Los Angeles area on crimes ranging from drug offenses to attempted robbery, the patrol said.

The alien was previously deported from the United States and then prosecuted for re-entry into the country, the patrol said.

He was one of three Honduran aliens arrested Saturday morning after an agent patrolling near the port of entry at Andrade found and followed footprints leading north from the border.

The agent followed the tracks to vegetation where he found the three hiding, the release said.

The two other aliens had no criminal arrest records, the patrol said. They told agents they had met the MS-13 member shortly after entering the country.

One of the two, a juvenile, was processed for removal from the country, while the other was processed for prosecution for illegal entry, the patrol said.

On Aug. 18, agents arrested an MS-13 member in the area County 8th Street and the Colorado River, the patrol said.

The gang member had a record of arrests in California, Nevada and Arizona on suspicion of such offenses as murder, attempted murder, evading a police officer, fugitive from justice, robbery, numerous drug offenses, possession of stolen property and violation of a deportation order, according to the patrol.

Notorious for its violent tactics, including murder, the gang is active in 33 states, including Arizona. It has been the subject of massive federal roundups and deportations this year in cities elsewhere, according to The Sun's archives.

Yuma Sector Border Patrol spokesman Ben Vik previously said Mara Salvatrucha originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s. It was established, he said, primarily to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other, more established gangs of Los Angeles.

Vik said as the members of the gang were deported, either because of their illegal status in the United States or for committing crimes as non-citizens, they started recruiting members in their home countries and the gang grew in popularity and took hold in many Central American countries.


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