Mara Salvatrucha gang member caught in El Paso
By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 12/12/2007 07:57:47 PM MST


A member of the Mara Salvatrucha caught in El Paso was among a dozen members of the violent trans-national street gang stopped during law enforcement operations along the Texas-Mexico border, the Texas governor's office said recently.
It is uncommon for a member of the Mara Salvatrucha, which has a reputation for extreme violence including hacking victims with machetes, controlling prisons and is a potential national security threat in some Central American countries, to be found in El Paso.

But the arrest follows a trend seen by border law enforcement of members of the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, crossing the border to reach other U.S. cities. The governor's office said that members of MS-13, which has cliques in Houston and Dallas, were also captured in Maverick, Webb and Hidalgo counties.

The Mara Salvatrucha was founded by Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles. The gang, which is the target of a multi-agency MS-13 National Gang Task Force based at FBI Headquarters, has some 10,000 members in 33 states and Washington, D.C.

"There have been some people arrested. They are associated or members of that (MS-13) gang but we really haven't seen any activity," Javier Sambrano, El Paso police spokesman, said.

Investigators have said it is unlikely the MS-13 would get a foothold in the El Paso-Juárez region. There are already about 500 street gangs, party crews and other gangs in El Paso, according to police.

El Paso County sheriff's spokesman Deputy Eduardo Placencia said that a total of 30 gang members have been arrested this year in warrant roundups, traffic stops and vehicle checks that were part of the border security projects Operation Linebacker and Operation Border Star.
Most of the gangsters arrested in El Paso County were of the Barrio Azteca and Folk gangs and not necessarily undocumented immigrants, Placencia said. A new round of Operation Border Star began today.

The operations have been criticized by immigrant rights activists as targeting among undocumented immigrants.

"It's basically putting more deputies out on the street. We are not looking for undocumented people. We are just there in numbers," Placencia said.

Placencia explained that deputies may ask for a Social Security number because it is part of the form filled for traffic tickets.

Figures released from the governor's office also showed arrests of members of the Mexican Mafia and Tango Blast prison gangs as part of the crackdown.

Tango Blast is a fast growing but loosely organized prison gang found in cities such as Austin, Houston and Dallas, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

"Gang intel said they are not having any problems with Tangos, yet. They have confirmed several of them being inmates" at the El Paso County jail, Placencia said.

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