Border security: the Minuteman Project is targeted by the Mara Salvatrucha gang
From an interview with a Minuteman Project volunteer, John Smallberries, at La Shawn Barber‘s:
At any rate — we have a strict “no contact” policy. Our volunteers are only there to observe and report. If you think of a neighborhood watch program, spread out along 20 miles of border — that is how we are operating. So if the block watch folks would not do it — neither will we.
La Shawn will continue the interview tomorrow.
Read on the subject and inform yourself. The Spanish-language media’s been distorting the issue, and as you can read, the violent, terror-connected Latin American gang Mara Salvatrucha are gearing up to go after the Minutemen:
Lately, the gang has joined forces with former members of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a radical terrorist group, and some U.S. intelligence sources say they may also be cooperating with Islamic terrorist groups – including al-Qaida.
After I did this post an hour ago, I found the following on the subject: Agents brief local lawmen on gang
Formed in Los Angeles by Salvadoran refugees in the 1980s, the gang has now established cells across Central America and the United States. The Maras are believed to be involved in drug trafficking and are wanted in connection with numerous murders across the Americas.
. . .
“They’re using a well-known smuggling route in the Rio Grande Valley, which historically has been the most popular route for OTMs (Other Than Mexicans).”
While the official interviewed stated that there’s no evidence that Maras are helping al-Qaida terrorists sneak across the border, he also said, “But we’re not the only ones looking at this.”
The problem is not confined to the Rio Grande Valley. This article in El Nuevo Herald states,
En las últimas semanas, agentes del gobierno han desarrollado la Operación Escudo Comunitario que busca la total erradicación de los 8,000 a 10,000 pandilleros de la MS-13 detectados en las áreas metropolitanas de Nueva York, Washington, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Newark, Miami y Dallas
(my translation:) During the past weeks, government agents have developed Operation Community Shield, which aims to totally erredicate the 8,000 to 10,000 [Mara Salvatrucha, a.k.a. MS-13] gang members detected in the New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Newark, Miami and Dallas metropolitan areas.
Border control is not a localized problem.
Also posted at Blogger News Network
Update Welcome, La Shawn Barber readers! Please visit often.
More on the Mara Salvatrucha, a.k.a. MS-13 gang and its members, In New York, National crackdown nets 103 members of MS-13 gang
The arrests, in seven cities since early January, are the first of a nationwide crackdown on Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, which is one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the United States.
Federal officials estimate between 8,000 and 10,000 MS-13 members live in 31 states _ the majority of them in the country illegally. There have been machete attacks in U.S. cities along the East Coast.
Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement used information from state and local law enforcement authorities to target MS-13 activities. Forty of the arrests were in New York City area, including 20 in Suffolk County, on Long Island, and 10 in Newark. Others occurred in the Washington, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Miami and Dallas metropolitan areas.
In Los Angeles, Attorney slashed in MS-13 trial
A man suspected of being an “enforcer” for the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang allegedly slashed his attorney’s arm with a razor blade in court Monday during his murder trial.
In Utah, Utah Investigators Watching For MS-13 Gang Members,
and in Passaic, Morris and Middlesex counties, New Jersey, County gets help to battle gang
MS-13 stands for La Mara Salvatrucha. “Mara” is a Spanish word for gang, and “Salvatrucha” is a nickname for Salvadorans in the United States.
Salvadorans who immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s founded the gang. Some were fleeing the civil war in the Central American nation, while others were former combatants in the war and highly trained in military tactics.
MS-13 is one of the most violent gangs in the nation, U.S. law enforcement officials say. MS-13 is believed to have several thousand members in the United States. The gang has expanded – especially in smaller towns and cities – and recruits younger members of several nationalities.
“MS-13 is definitely prevalent. It’s in Passaic, Morris and Middlesex counties,” said Ron Holvey, an investigator with the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
Additionally, Nationwide crackdown on vicious gang nets 10 in N.J.
Wednesday, March 16 update here
Further update here
