http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...la-home-nation

Mara Salvatrucha is rooted locally, but it has become a force in Central America and the Washington area. U.S. policy provided unintended aid.

By Robert J. Lopez, Rich Connell and Chris Kraul, Times Staff Writers

On a sweltering afternoon, an unmarked white jetliner taxies to a remote terminal at the international airport here and disgorges dozens of criminal deportees from the United States. Marshals release the handcuffed prisoners, who shuffle into a processing room.

Of the 70 passengers, at least four are members of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a gang formed two decades ago near MacArthur Park west of the Los Angeles skyline.

For one of them, Melvin "Joker" Cruz-Mendoza, the trip is nothing new. [b]This is his fourth deportation â€â€