Nearly 600 individuals with ties to terror organizations entered the United States and were granted asylum by the Biden administration, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said during a cabinet meeting Wednesday.
The finding came after Gabbard directed the National Counterterrorism Center to identify cartel members present in the United States, as well as those who’ve attempted to enter the country through legal or illegal means.
“Because of your designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, I took immediate action with our National Counterterrorism Center to prioritize their focus on those terrorists and gang members who are trying to enter our country through legal or illegal means and to seek out those who are already here in our country because of the Biden administration’s four years of open borders,” Gabbard told President Donald Trump during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
“Just the other day, we found 700 alien terrorists who have ties to MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the Sinaloa cartel,” Gabbard said. “Just yesterday, our NCTC identified almost 600 individuals with ties to other terrorists who came through our border illegally, claimed asylum, and under the Biden administration were paroled here within our borders.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
JUST IN: <a href="https://twitter.com/ODNIgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ODNIgov</a>&#8216;s National Counterterrorism Center identified 600 individuals with ties to terrorists who came through our borders illegally, claimed asylum, and under the Biden administration, were paroled here within our borders. <a href="https://t.co/lgLVBLsst0">pic.twitter.com/lgLVBLsst0</a>
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/DNIGabbard/status/1917646293091971517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
Gabbard explained that her Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is working alongside the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to locate these illegal alien terrorists.
Gabbard’s efforts come after Trump <a href="https://www.state.gov/terrorist-designations-of-international-cartels/">designated</a> eight different gangs and cartels, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Sinaloa Cartel, as foreign terror organizations.
The Trump administration has recently taken a slate of actions designed to cripple terror organizations like Tren de Aragua.
Homeland Security Investigations <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-say-theyve-captured-tren-de-aragua-leader-who-flaunted-grenades-on-social-media?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Feds+Say+They%E2%80%99ve+Captured+Tren+De+Aragua+Leader+Who+Flaunted+Grenades+On+Social+Media">captured</a> a man who they say is a leader of Tren de Aragua in Los Angeles over the weekend. The Venezuelan national, who was identified despite his use of a fake name, flaunted a stash of grenades on social media before his arrest.
That arrest came after federal law enforcement from a wide range of agencies, from the Department of Homeland Security to the IRS, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/multi-agency-raid-hits-tren-de-aragua-hotspot-officials-take-more-than-100-into-custody?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Multi-Agency+Raid+Hits+Tren+De+Aragua+Hotspot%3A+Officials+Take+More+Than+100+Into+Custody">arrested</a> more than 100 people at an underground nightclub that was being used by Tren de Aragua in Colorado.

MS-13 Member

Biden Gave Asylum To Nearly 600 Migrants With Terrorism Ties, Trump Says

Crime

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

MS-13 Gang

Terrorism

Tren De Aragua

The political and legal battle escalates over an alleged member of a violent gang deported to El Salvador. RFK Jr. launches a series of studies into the causes of autism, prompting both condemnation and praise. And, Democrats take aim at President Donald Trump over his call for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, while Trump touts key economic wins.
It’s Monday, April 21, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
&nbsp;
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rfk-jr-takes-on-autism-fed-fight-4-21-25/id1576594336?i=1000704280091" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h2>Deportation Debate Continues</h2>
<div id="attachment_909961" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909961" class="size-large wp-image-909961" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2210280248-864x576.jpg" alt="Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) takes questions during a press conference after returning from El Salvador, where he met with wrongly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, on April 18, 2025 at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, VA." width="864" height="576" />(Photo by Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is back stateside after visiting suspected gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador.
Van Hollen returned from El Salvador over the weekend after meeting with suspected MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador last week. Garcia was detained and deported to a megaprison there along with more than 200 other suspected gang members last month. Critics have argued that Garcia’s due process rights were violated, and a federal judge has ordered that he be brought back to the United States immediately. The Trump administration has insisted that the matter is out of its hands – and that, gang member or not, Garcia is an illegal alien and should have been deported anyway.
“My goal was to meet with [Abrego Garcia] and make sure I could tell his wife and family he was OK,” Van Hollen told ABC.
When questioned about Garcia’s alleged connection to MS-13, Van Hollen deflected.
“What Donald Trump is trying to do here is change the subject,” Van Hollen <a href="https://x.com/westernlensman/status/1913945751824240693">said</a>. “The subject at hand is that he and his administration are defying a court order to give Abrego Garcia his due process rights. They are trying to litigate on social media what they should be doing in the courts… What [Garcia] told me was he was sad and traumatized that he was being imprisoned because he has committed no crimes, and that goes to the heart of this issue.”
&nbsp;
<h2>RFK Commissions New Studies of Autism &#8216;Epidemic&#8217; </h2>
<div id="attachment_910057" style="width: 880px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-910057" class="size-large wp-image-910057" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Autism-870x576.jpg" alt="" width="870" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Autism-870x576.jpg 870w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Autism-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Autism-768x508.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Autism-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Autism-2048x1356.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px" />(Photo by Nora Carol Photography via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is commissioning a series of studies to investigate potential environmental factors that might contribute to autism.
RFK Jr. commissioned the new studies shortly after previous data were released indicating a surge in autism diagnoses in recent years.
“The autism epidemic is running rampant,” Kennedy <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/autism-epidemic-runs-rampant-new-data-shows-grants.html">said</a>.  “One in 31 American children born in 2014 are disabled by autism. That’s up significantly from two years earlier and nearly five times higher than when the CDC first started running autism surveys<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5601a1.htm"> in children born in 1992</a>.. Prevalence for boys is an astounding 1 in 20 and in California it’s 1 in 12.5.”
“President Trump has tasked me with identifying the root causes of the childhood chronic disease epidemic &#8212; including autism,” Secretary Kennedy continued. “We are assembling teams of world-class scientists to focus research on the origins of the epidemic, and we expect to begin to have answers by September.”
The Autism Society of America actually <a href="https://autismsociety.org/statement-on-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-comments-regarding-the-cause-of-autism-and-misleading-deadline/">condemned</a> Kennedy for those remarks, calling them “harmful, misleading, and unrealistic.” The organization said that autism is a “complex developmental disability” and it’s “neither a chronic illness nor a contagion, that qualifies harmful language like ‘epidemic.’”
Another autism organization, <a href="https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-causes-autism">Autism Speaks</a>, has suggested that the rise in autism cases is largely due to better screening, better understanding of the disorder, and therefore a higher diagnosis rate. The organization said that other genetic and environmental factors are still being studied, but they likely account for only a small part of the increase. Kennedy believes that’s flipped, and that only a small portion of the increase can be attributed to a better diagnostic process.
&nbsp;
<h2>Economic Update</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-910059" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/The-Federal-Reserve-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></div>
Topline: Democrats are up in arms about President Trump&#8217;s latest economic moves, but Team Trump says he&#8217;s doing exactly what Americans elected him to do.
Democrats are accusing Trump of crossing the line by pressuring the Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, to lower interest rates. Powell appears to be digging in, while the president is now openly saying his termination can’t come soon enough.  Powell’s term is scheduled to end May 15, 2026. Trump’s team is reportedly looking into whether there are ways to remove Powell early. Democrats argue that this is an unprecedented violation of the balance of powers.
“There’s a reason we have an independent Fed,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) told CNN. “It has served us well through many crises, through downturns, through depressions, through the pandemic. They’re able to respond and stabilize things. And what Jerome Powell is doing right now is warning that these tariffs are having a huge destabilizing effect on our economy and hurting everyday people. And that’s going to affect decisions that the Fed makes. That’s his job and he’s doing it.”
Meanwhile: Trump is maintaining his pause of higher tariffs for most countries – except China – for 90 days, and he’s set a 10% baseline tariff on imports to encourage negotiations. The Trump administration says at least 75 countries have reached out to negotiate at this point. As we’ve reported, the major outlier is China, which has escalated tariffs in response. A few days ago, Trump indicated an openness to making a deal to protect consumers, but no talks with Xi Jinping have been confirmed yet. 
Japanese negotiators met with U.S. officials recently, with Trump citing “big progress.” Toyota is considering shifting RAV4 production to the United States to mitigate the impact of tariffs. Likewise, Trump reported a “great call” with South Korea focusing on steel and automobiles. Vietnam has also offered to remove all tariffs on U.S. goods. Discussions with India are also in progress, with India angling for a bilateral trade agreement to boost trade to $500 billion by 2030.
The European Union has paused retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. and is advocating for a zero-tariff agreement. As for the UK, talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer are ongoing, with Vice President JD Vance expressing optimism that any deal they reach will be mutually beneficial.

US deports 17 gang-linked criminals in joint operation with El Salvador

Morning Brief: Deportee Battle Escalates, RFK Jr. Takes On Autism & Trump’s Fed Fight

Deportations

El Salvador

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Tariffs

The 24-year-old daughter of Minnesota Democrat governor and failed vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz released a TikTok video in which she claimed that if Jesus Christ lived in the United States, the Trump administration would deport him and claim he was part of a deadly gang.
Walz appeared to be making a reference to 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien who was deported to El Salvador and is suspected of being a member of the violent MS-13 gang. Democrats have sought for Garcia to be sent back to the United States, claiming that he has been denied due process.
“If Jesus were alive today and in the United States, this administration would already have taken him and removed him from this country without due process, claimed he was a member of the MS-13 gang as a way to try to justify not giving him due process, as if there is any justifiable reason to not giving somebody due process,” Walz declared.
“Some people don’t want to talk about that,” she continued. “It truly is baffling how clear and laid out everything is and there is [sic] still people standing by it. I believe in the good of people, and like, humanity, humans, you know, deep down at our core, like, we care about each other. But that’s really being tested, because how anyone is OK with this is terrifying to me. But yeah, if you look like me, speak up, speak out, because we might be the only ones safe from what’s coming and some of the only people that are able to stop it.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Tim Walz’s daughter appears to compare alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Jesus, says Trump would have deported Jesus for being a gang member.
I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“I believe in the good of people and like humanity, humans you know deep… <a href="https://t.co/zxjXJmlwFb">pic.twitter.com/zxjXJmlwFb</a>
&mdash; Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1913599911918211264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Department of Homeland Security has said it has evidence that Garcia was involved in MS-13.
“Two judges found that he was a member of MS-13. That finding has not been disturbed. Intelligence reports found that he was involved in human trafficking,&#8221; Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/04/16/kilmar-abrego-garcia-ms-13-gang-member-history-violence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;He is an illegal alien from El Salvador. He claimed fear of being returned to El Salvador because he would be persecuted by MS-13&#8217;s rival gang, Barrio-18. Jennifer Vasquez, Garcia’s wife, petitioned for an order of protection against him. She claimed he punched her, scratched her, and ripped off her shirt, and bruised her.”
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, MS-13 is well known for its extreme violence and brutality.
“One of the largest and most violent criminal organizations in the United States is MS-13, which has over 10,000 members in as many as 40 states,” ICE <a href="https://www.ice.gov/about-ice/hsi/investigate/transnational-gangs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a>. “The gang is known for its extreme violence, including its brutal initiation rituals and acts of intimidation and retaliation against rival gangs, law enforcement officials and community members.”

US-VOTE-POLITICS-DEMOCRATIC-CONVENTION

Tim Walz’s Daughter Says Trump Would Have Deported Jesus And Claimed He Was Part Of MS-13

Jesus Christ

Tim Walz

Trump Administration

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said on Sunday he did not bother to press Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant deported from the United States and sent to prison in his home country of El Salvador, to answer whether he is or has ever been a member of MS-13 when the two met last week.
The Democrat, who contends that Abrego Garcia is a “constituent” of Maryland who was unlawfully deported, told CNN&#8217;s Dana Bash he did not ask &#8220;because I know what his answer is: what he told me was he was sad and traumatized that he was being in prison because he has committed no crimes, and that goes to the heart of this issue because he&#8217;s being denied his due process rights.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BASH: “Can you say with absolute certainty that he is not, nor has he ever been a member of the MS-13 gang, and did you ask him point blank?”
VAN HOLLEN: “What Donald Trump is trying to do here is change the subject. The subject at hand is that he and his administration are… <a href="https://t.co/QlXZZANLXf">pic.twitter.com/QlXZZANLXf</a>
&mdash; State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1913945462542942658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old living in Maryland, was detained and deported to El Salvador last month <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blasts-legacy-media-for-focusing-on-deported-salvadoran-ignoring-angel-mom-patty-morin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">despite</a> a 2019 court order prohibiting him from being sent back to the country. His legal team has been <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69777799/1/abrego-garcia-v-noem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fighting</a> the federal government in a high-profile court to secure his return to the United States.
The Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/facilitate-not-effectuate-wh-responds-to-scotus-ruling-on-mistakenly-deported-salvadoran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accuses</a> Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, which has been <a href="https://www.state.gov/designation-of-international-cartels/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designated</a> as a foreign terror organization, and has released <a href="https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1396906/dl?inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documents</a> to substantiate the affiliation. Among them was a 2019 interview sheet in which police wrote that a confidential informant identified Abrego Garcia as a member of the gang. Abrego Garcia&#8217;s attorneys <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69777799/1/abrego-garcia-v-noem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deny</a> the claim.
After Van Hollen met with Abrego Garcia on Thursday, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele posted photos of the encounter on X. One photo <a href="https://x.com/nayibbukele/status/1913028548001923259" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> there were tattoos on the knuckles of Abrego Garcia&#8217;s left hand, a possible sign of gang membership.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” &amp; “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!🍹 <a href="https://t.co/r6VWc6Fjtn">pic.twitter.com/r6VWc6Fjtn</a>
&mdash; Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1913028548001923259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
President Donald Trump then posted on social media a photo of himself holding a photo of a hand. It was titled &#8220;Kilmar Abrego Garcia MS-13 Tattoo&#8221; and showed a close-up picture of a hand with a cannabis leaf, smiley face, cross, and skull tattooed across four knuckles. In his post, Trump alluded to the 2019 immigration case and a 2021 restraining order that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/deported-illegal-immigrant-who-dems-have-championed-accused-of-beating-wife-court-docs?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News+and+Commentary&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Deported+Illegal+Immigrant+Who+Dems+Have+Championed+Accused+Of+Beating+Wife%3A++Court+Docs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shows</a> Abrego Garcia was accused of beating his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who now says they worked through the incident.
&#8220;This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such &#8216;a fine and innocent person.&#8217; They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles, and two Highly Respected Courts found that he was a member of MS-13, beat up his wife, etc. I was elected to take bad people out of the United States, among other things. I must be allowed to do my job. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!&#8221;
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This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such “a fine and innocent person.” They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles, and two Highly Respected Courts found… <a href="https://t.co/31sNr2k1SK">pic.twitter.com/31sNr2k1SK</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1913358867708493982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Van Hollen insisted that the president is trying to distract people and dared the Trump administration to bring up the gang affiliation claim in Abrego Garcia&#8217;s ongoing deportation case.
&#8220;He and his administration are defying a court order to give Abrego Garcia his due process rights. They are trying to litigate on social media what they should be doing in the courts they need to put up or shut up in the courts,&#8221; Van Hollen said. &#8220;Let me tell you, I decided to write this down so I could be absolutely accurate as to what federal district Court Judge Zennis said about these allegations by the Trump administration, quote, &#8216;No evidence linking Abrego Garcia to MS-13 or any terrorist activity has been presented to the court.&#8217; That&#8217;s where to litigate this. It&#8217;s been litigated in many other places, so I&#8217;m not going to get into the details because the whole purpose of our court system is for them to adjudicate these things, not for Donald Trump to go off on social media.&#8221;

Sen. Chris Van Hollen

Dem Senator Says He Did Not Ask Deported Illegal Immigrant About MS-13

Congress

Donald Trump

U.S.

U.S. Senate

This week, Democrats decided to expend their quickly diminishing political capital in defense of a deported Salvadoran illegal immigrant named Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia was deported to El Salvador some weeks ago; the Department of Justice initially admitted that his deportation was an &#8220;administrative error.&#8221; It turns out that Garcia had an order withholding removal to his home country, due to his claims that returning to El Salvador would risk his life. Nonetheless, the administration flew him to that country&#8217;s Terrorism Confinement Center, where he is apparently being held to date.
Initially, a district court judge ruled that Abrego Garcia&#8217;s removal was violative of due process, and that the administration had to &#8220;facilitate&#8221; his return to the United States. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court, which found 9-0 that while the executive branch likely had the power to order his deportation, it still had to follow court orders to &#8220;facilitate&#8221; his temporary return for due process reasons. The Trump administration, for its part, claims that it has already &#8220;facilitated&#8221; his release from custody — that they&#8217;ve asked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele nicely to release him, and that Bukele has refused. Bukele sat in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump and said just that: &#8220;The question is preposterous: how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?&#8221;
Regardless of the legal wrangling over the case — and there is in fact a solid legal basis to the idea that the administration ought to temporarily return Abrego Garcia just to receive a court hearing, after which he can be deported right back again — Democrats have wrong-footed themselves yet again. This week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., decided to fly down to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia; other Congressional Democrats vowed to do the same. In their telling, Abrego Garcia is an innocent caught up in the mills of wrongheaded justice.
But Abrego Garcia is indeed a nefarious character. It turns out that aside from his illegal immigration status, Garcia&#8217;s wife accused him of &#8220;violently beating her multiple times&#8221; in a 2021 court filing, according to the Daily Mail. When he was originally arrested in 2019, arrest records show he was found with cash and drugs, as well as two other members of MS-13, while wearing gear associated with MS-13. And this is the person Democrats have tried to valorize.
Abrego Garcia isn&#8217;t the only awful person Democrats have attempted to sanctify. Democrats have also rushed to the defense of terror supporter and Columbia student visa holder Mohsen Mahdawi, who posted on his social media in commemoration of his terrorist cousin: &#8220;a leader of a fierce resistance fighter.&#8221; The New York Times went so far as to headline his story, &#8220;He Wanted Peace in the Middle East. ICE Wants to Deport Him.&#8221;
Meanwhile, Democrats have little to say about the illegal immigrant killer of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five who was raped and murdered; Rachel&#8217;s mother, Patty, visited the White House briefing room to explain the case to a media that largely ignored it. Democrats similarly have gone silent about the burning of the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa.; his home was set aflame by an anti-Israel man who said he wanted to let Shapiro know he &#8220;will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.&#8221; Democrats&#8217; inconsistency here speaks volumes: If you are an illegal immigrant criminal, they will either ignore it or downplay it; if you are a visa-holder or criminal who favors Hamas, they will do the same.
Democrats have a wide variety of lines they can use to attack the Trump administration. But their binary view of the world — opponents of Trump must by necessity be good — leads them down dark pathways. Which means that no matter how much they decry the lack of due process, nobody will trust them with the levers of power.
* * *
Copyright 2025 Creators Syndicate

EL SALVADOR-US-POLITICS-JUSTICE-MIGRATION

Democrats’ Bizarrely Misplaced Empathy

Democrats' Bizarrely Misplaced Empathy

Ben Shapiro

Democrats

illegal immigrants

Leftists

Liberals

Opinion

President Trump

The illegal immigrant from El Salvador, who&#8217;s been the focus of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/denied-el-salvador-wont-allow-dem-senator-to-see-man-deported-by-trump?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=DENIED%3A+El+Salvador+Won’t+Allow+Dem+Senator+To+See+Man+Deported+By+Trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Democrats</a> and their <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-officials-bukele-tear-into-cnn-reporter-who-asked-if-illegal-alien-will-be-returned-to-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allies in the media</a>, was accused of beating his wife, according to a restraining order.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who came to the United States illegally, was recently deported back to his home country of El Salvador by the Trump administration. Garcia&#8217;s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, had a temporary order of protection against her husband back in 2021. Sura said Garcia slapped her, hit her with an object, and detained her against her will, an ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wife-deported-maryland-man-abrego-garcia-hit-scratched/story?id=120882240" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> detailed.
The order for protection &#8220;from domestic violence&#8221; also said that Garcia &#8220;punched and scratched her eye,&#8221; causing Sura to bleed. It also said that on the same day, Garcia &#8220;got angry, started yelling again to the point that he ripped [Sura&#8217;s] shorts and shirt off.&#8221;
&#8220;At this point I am afraid to be close to him,&#8221; Sura is quoted. &#8220;I have multiple photos/videos of how [violent] he can be.&#8221;
The administration is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-has-2-weeks-to-show-steps-taken-for-returning-salvadoran-man-judge-orders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defending</a> his deportation and saying he&#8217;s a member of the violent gang MS-13. However, a judge said this week that the administration must show that it is taking steps to return Garcia from El Salvador.
Sura has since said in a statement that she and Garcia worked through the incident.
&#8220;We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,&#8221; she said in a statement. &#8220;Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.&#8221;
Additionally, back in December 2022, Garcia was <a href="https://tennesseestar.com/justice/bidens-fbi-ordered-tn-highway-patrol-to-release-maryland-man-recently-deported-to-el-salvador-after-he-was-detained-in-2022-traffic-stop-on-suspicion-of-human-trafficking/tpappert/2025/04/16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspected</a> of engaging in human trafficking by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), the Tennessee Star reported on Wednesday. At the time, the THP contacted the FBI for guidance, and within two hours, the FBI ultimately requested authorities release Garcia and the passengers in his vehicle, the report said.
Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi, pushing back against a CNN reporter, said that Garcia was not only an illegal alien, but that multiple courts concluded that he was a member of MS-13.
“He was illegally in our country … and in 2019, two courts, an immigration court and an appellate immigration court, ruled that he was a member of MS-13,” Bondi said. “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him, that’s not up to us.&#8221;
President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele also reacted, saying that he would not be returning Garcia, a citizen of El Salvador, nor would he release him to live freely in the Central American country.
Spencer Lindquist contributed to this report 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-officials-bukele-tear-into-cnn-reporter-who-asked-if-illegal-alien-will-be-returned-to-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump Officials, Bukele Tear Into CNN Reporter Who Asked If Illegal Alien Will Be Returned To U.S.</a>

Hearing Held In Case Of Maryland Man Mistakenly Deported To El Salvador

Deported Illegal Immigrant Who Dems Have Championed Accused Of Beating Wife: Court Docs

Deported Gang Member Who Dems Have Championed Accused Of Beating His Wife: Court Docs

Politics

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called an unscheduled briefing Wednesday afternoon to lay out the evidence against the deported MS-13 terrorist Democrats are desperately trying to bring back to the United States.
Joining Leavitt was Patty Morin, whose daughter, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/deeply-touched-trump-calls-mom-of-rachel-morin-mom-of-five-allegedly-raped-and-murdered-by-illegal-immigrant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel</a>, 37, was raped and murdered by illegal immigrant Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez in Maryland in 2023. Morin stood by as Leavitt laid out the case President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration had made against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia was initially deported to El Salvador due to an &#8220;administrative error,&#8221; but in the days since, administration officials have stated that he is connected to the violent gang MS-13 and had an active deportation order — all points Leavitt reiterated during the briefing.
Leavitt criticized Maryland Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen, who flew to El Salvador to &#8220;check on&#8221; Garcia and attempt to get him released and returned to the United States.
&#8220;Today, we have officially learned Democrat officials still refuse to accept the will of the American people. Maryland’s Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen rushed to Dulles Airport this morning to fly to El Salvador, potentially using taxpayer dollars to demand the release of deported, illegal alien, MS-13 terrorist,&#8221; Leavitt said.
&#8220;The Democrats and media in this room have routinely and wrongly labeled this man — Kilmar Abrego Garcia — as a Maryland father. There is no Maryland father. Let me reiterate: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his home country.&#8221;
&#8220;And when Abrego Garcia was originally arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls of money covering the ears, mouth, and eyes of presidents on various currencies and denominations,&#8221; Leavitt continued. &#8220;This is a known MS-13 gang symbol of hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. Abrego Garcia was also arrested with two other well-known members of the vicious MS-13 gang. And two separate judges found Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13 and that finding has never been disputed.&#8221;
Leavitt went on to lay out details from several newer reports indicating that Garcia&#8217;s wife had filed multiple protection orders against him, alleging domestic violence.
&#8220;Just this morning, it was revealed through Maryland court documents that Abrego Garcia&#8217;s wife petitioned for an order of protection against him for two instances of domestic violence in may of 2021. And here is the order right here,&#8221; Leavitt said.
&#8220;It’s appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens,&#8221; she added.
&#8220;This is from a court in Maryland, so not only are Democrats rushing to defend an illegal criminal, foreign terrorist gang member, but an apparent woman beater. To set all of that aside, the basic fact that he was illegally in our country and had a lawful deportation order made him subject to removal back to his home country of El Salvador.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/karolineleavitt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KarolineLeavitt</a>: “Today, we have officially learned Democrat officials still refuse to accept the will of the American people. Maryland’s Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen rushed to Dulles Airport this morning to fly to El Salvador, potentially using taxpayer dollars… <a href="https://t.co/0OznM4nZqC">pic.twitter.com/0OznM4nZqC</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1912612530632958271?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Leavitt did not stop there, adding additional details about MS-13 and the reasons that Trump had classified the violent gang members as foreign terrorists.
&#8220;To remind the media and Democrat Party, MS-13 are among the most vicious and dangerous individuals in this world,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They pose a direct threat to the United States, El Salvador, and any other country who maintains basic law and order. MS-13 rapes innocent girls and women, runs sex trafficking operations, murders for sport, and terrorizes law-abiding people. That&#8217;s why the El Salvador President Bukele made clear he will not release this MS-13 gang member from his prison.&#8221;
&#8220;That is not enough — all of that is not enough to stop the Democrat Party from their lies. The number one issue they are focused on right now is bringing back this illegal alien terrorist to America, but where are the Democrats applauding southern border crossings just hit a record low?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Patty Morin, mother of a woman brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant ignored by most of the White House press corps, begs reporters: “Please tell the truth.”
One of the most powerful moments I’ve ever witnessed. <a href="https://t.co/M9937VGt4W">pic.twitter.com/M9937VGt4W</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1912615787543617955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 
Van Hollen&#8217;s trip to El Salvador turned out to be a bust, however. He revealed on Wednesday afternoon that he had not been allowed to arrange a visit to the mega-prison where Garcia is being held, nor was he able to convince Salvadoran officials to allow Garcia&#8217;s return to the United States.

US-POLITICS-BRIEFING

White House Calls Surprise Briefing With Patty Morin, Whose Daughter Was Killed By Illegal Alien

Karoline Leavitt

Media

White House

The Trump administration is in the middle of a very hot fight with regard to a deported Salvadoran migrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant, had a deportation order placed on him. Then there was a withholding order that suggested he could not be sent back to El Salvador because Abrego Garcia claimed he feared for his life, that he would be killed in El Salvador because he&#8217;s a Salvadoran migrant with possible gang ties.
The court said the executive branch of the United States government had good cause to believe that Abrego Garcia might be a member of MS-13, a gang that President Trump has declared a terrorist organization.
Therefore, due to the withholding order, Abrego Garcia was not supposed to be on that plane, being deported back to El Salvador.
On April 4, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland directed the government to “facilitate and effectuate the return [of Abrego Garcia] to the United States.”
The Trump administration immediately filed an application to vacate the order.
The Supreme Court then ruled that the district court had the power to say that the United States government ought to “facilitate” his return to the United States, but they didn&#8217;t define the term “facilitate.” The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a949_lkhn.pdf">order stated</a>:
<blockquote>The application is granted in part and denied in part, subject to the direction of this order. Due to the administrative stay issued by THE CHIEF JUSTICE, the deadline imposed by the District Court has now passed. To that extent, the Government’s emergency application is effectively granted in part and the deadline in the challenged order is no longer effective. &#8230;
The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.</blockquote>
If that sounds vague, that’s because it&#8217;s incredibly vague. The government, under the Supreme Court order, apparently has a duty to “facilitate” his release from custody. But how exactly it&#8217;s effectuated, how that doesn&#8217;t infringe on the executive branch&#8217;s ability to perform deportations, is unclear.
That left the door open for the administration to claim, “When you say we need to ‘facilitate,’ we asked the Salvadorans and they said, ’No.’ So, I guess that&#8217;s us ‘facilitating.’”
The opposite case would be to basically demand that the Salvadoran government return this person to the United States, where he might get deported again.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2180-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Things are getting very hot because the case has been remanded back to the district court for clarification. That very often happens. The higher court will say that a lower court needs to look at a case again and clarify what exactly it meant before the Supreme Court decides whether it was right or whether it was wrong.
Xinis has now called for the testimony of Trump administration officials who work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department.
Many people across the political spectrum are saying Abrego Garcia deserves due process. And if you do the process wrong, and the court says you did the process wrong, you do actually have to facilitate his release back to the United States, not into the general population, but back to the authorities of the United States for more due process so they can check the boxes. Then the guy can be deported again.
Vice President Vance is taking the position that the administration is totally right not to facilitate due process in this particular case, essentially due to hardship.
Two things can be true at the same time: The Federal government should deport anybody who&#8217;s connected with MS-13, anybody who does not have American citizenship, who&#8217;s engaged in sympathy for anti-American views, or engages in action that is anti-American.
At the same time, there should be due process. Because if due process can be curbed for noncitizens, then due process could conceivably be curbed for citizens as well.
The question here is whether this legal fight is the fight that the administration wants to have.
It would be easy to tell the Salvadoran president to return Abrego Garcia, give him his day in court, and ship him out again. But the administration and the entire political Right have been conditioned to take the view that even admitting a mistake or doing a course-correction is a sign of weakness. That makes sense because the legacy media are willing to attack the Trump administration on any basis.
But sometimes it is better to just do the quick and easy thing and then move on to the actual priorities. In this case, it’s vital because with regard to immigration, there are important priorities.
The administration can take a legally dicey position and a politically popular position at the same time. Those two things can live in perfect harmony. Legally dicey and politically popular are constant aspects of many of the policy decisions made by leaders on both sides.
It&#8217;s a political winner for the Trump administration to say, “We want to deport illegal immigrants,” and force the Democrats into the position of defending illegal alien gang members or suspected gang members. That is a politically winning position.
But if you&#8217;re setting up a precedent where you actually want to get things done, you should be doing things the right way because it&#8217;s faster and easier to do it the right way than it is to do it the wrong way and then fight it out in the courts every step of the way.
You can win legally. You can do the right legal thing, which continues to give people the assurance that due process is carried out, gives the courts the assurance that due process is carried out, and also win the political fight.
One of the reasons I say the Trump administration should get out of its own way is that, legally, more pressing issues are occurring on the immigration front.
According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/04/15/doge-ssa-immigration-trump-housing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>, “The Trump administration is using personal data normally protected from dissemination to find undocumented immigrants where they work, study and live, often with the goal of removing them from their housing and the workforce.”
This is good and necessary. Those are the big battles the Trump administration needs to win.
Fighting the due process considerations for Abrego Garcia should not take precedence over the rest of the Trump agenda on immigration.

President Trump Meets With El Salvador President Nayib Bukele At The White House

Immigration Fight: Will The Salvadoran Illegal Immigrant Return?

gangs

JD Vance

Maryland

Supreme Court

A Senate Democrat announced plans to travel to El Salvador later this week if an alleged MS-13 gang member, who was detained last month in Maryland, deported, and imprisoned in his home country, is not returned to the United States.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the statement on Monday as an ultimatum, expressing his desire to speak with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who is currently in Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump.
&#8220;Kilmar Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported, and the courts have made clear: the Administration must bring him home, now,&#8221; Van Hollen <a href="https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-requests-meeting-with-president-bukele-to-discuss-return-of-kilmar-abrego-garcia-announces-intent-to-travel-to-el-salvador-this-week-if-abrego-garcia-is-not-returned" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;However, since the Trump Administration appears to be ignoring these court mandates, we need to take additional action.&#8221;
He continued, &#8220;That’s why I’ve requested to meet with President Bukele during his trip to the United States, and — if Kilmar is not home by midweek — I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release.&#8221;
The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/facilitate-not-effectuate-wh-responds-to-scotus-ruling-on-mistakenly-deported-salvadoran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> Garcia, who illegally entered the United States but got permission to stay in 2019, of being an MS-13 gang member. Garcia&#8217;s attorneys have <a href="https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/national-politics/van-hollen-demands-maryland-man-return-ALNOE5THZZHQLP2NAAWQYP3GJ4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> denied there is evidence of such a claim. The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/scotus-rules-partially-against-trump-in-deported-migrant-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a ruling last week that said the government must “facilitate,” but not necessarily “effectuate,” Garcia&#8217;s return amid a legal battle.
On Monday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stephen-miller-blames-doj-saboteur-for-claiming-salvadoran-migrant-mistakenly-deported" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> claims that Garcia was deported by mistake and contended that the withholding order the suspect received six years ago is no longer valid because the Trump administration has designated MS-13 as a foreign terror organization.
While meeting Trump at the White House on Monday, Bukele <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-officials-bukele-tear-into-cnn-reporter-who-asked-if-illegal-alien-will-be-returned-to-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he would not send Garcia back. &#8220;How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?&#8221; Bukele said to reporters, adding, &#8220;I don&#8217;t have the power to return him.&#8221;
Van Hollen also revealed on Monday that he sent a letter to El Salvador&#8217;s U.S. ambassador, Milena Mayorga, &#8220;urgently&#8221; requesting a meeting with Bukele.
The Democrat senator faced some blowback from the GOP for his efforts.
&#8220;Young girls are being abused, Americans are being killed, and our communities are being overrun by illegals — and Democrats like Chris Van Hollen are busy fighting for people who shouldn’t even be here while ignoring the needs of real Americans,&#8221; Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) <a href="https://x.com/RepMaryMiller/status/1911839877215240448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X, adding, &#8220;Disgraceful!&#8221;

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Dem Senator’s Ultimatum: Bring Back Deported MS-13 Suspect Or I’ll Go To El Salvador

Illegal Immigation

Nayib Bukele

U.S. House of Representatives

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, on Monday morning dismissed claims that an illegal immigrant who lived in Maryland was deported to El Salvador by mistake.
Miller appeared on Fox News and said that reporting and accusations against the Trump administration around the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia have been seriously flawed. Despite reports that Abrego Garcia should not have been deported to his home nation of El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was, in fact, correctly sent there, Miller said.
“He was not mistakenly sent to El Salvador. He is an illegal alien from El Salvador,” Miller <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1911774232435962344" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News host Bill Hemmer. “In 2019, he was ordered deported. He [has] a final removal order from the United States. These are things that no one disputes. Where is he from? El Salvador. Where is he a resident and citizen of? El Salvador. Is he here illegally? Yes. Does he have a deportation order? Yes.”
Miller blamed a “saboteur” working inside the Department of Justice (DOJ) for making the original claim that Abrego Garcia had been mistakenly deported. He said the lawyer has since been terminated.
“A DOJ lawyer – who has since been relieved of duty, a saboteur, a Democrat – put into a filing incorrectly that this was a mistaken removal. It was not. This was the right person sent to the right place,” said Miller.
&#8220;Now some have said, ‘well, but he had a thing called a withholding order’ – so a withholding order means you&#8217;ve been ordered deported, but an immigration judge is saying you cannot go back to a particular country,” he continued. “Here&#8217;s the thing: if you are a member of a foreign terrorist organization, you cannot have a withholding order.”
&#8220;Since he&#8217;s in MS-13, there is no withholding order. Furthermore, the gang he is accused of being persecuted by doesn&#8217;t exist anymore in El Salvador. The 18th Street gang is gone,” he added. Abrego Garcia has denied that he is a member of MS-13. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have <a href="https://time.com/7276642/kilmar-albrego-garcia-error-deportation-el-salvador-prison-supreme-court-return-ms-13/">accused </a>Abrego Garcia of being a part of the gang based on information local police obtained from a confidential informant who is said to have verified Abrego Garcia’s membership.

Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller Blames DOJ ‘Saboteur’ For Claiming Salvadoran Migrant Mistakenly Deported

Stephen Miller Blames DOJ ‘Saboteur’ For Claiming Salvadoran Migrant Wrongly Deported

Department of Justice

United States Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Friday federal murder charges against three alleged MS-13 gang members, warning other gang members to “self-deport right now because we&#8217;re coming after you.”
“Nine MS-13 terrorists have been taken off our streets and four cold murder cases have been solved thanks to the great investigative work of the FBI and our law enforcement partners,” Bondi stated. “Let this be a lesson: no matter how long it takes, we will never give up in our pursuit of justice.”
A total of nine suspected MS-13 gang members have now been arrested in connection to four murder cases in South Florida in 2014 and 2015 as part of the Trump administration’s relentless crackdown on the violent gang.
The cases went cold for years, only being reopened in 2020.
Bondi said the three suspects are connected to the brutal killing of a suspected rival gang member in Florida in 2015, in which the victim was <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/04/us-news/alleged-ms-13-gang-members-charged-in-brutal-florida-murder/">stabbed</a> more than 100 times and then shot, per the New York Post.
“More arrests are coming,” Bondi said at a press conference with law enforcement officials in Fort Lauderdale. “If you are a gang member living in this country, I’d self-deport right now because we’re coming after you.”
Six other alleged MS-13 members were charged in three separate killings, all characterized by extreme violence and carried out using knives, machetes, and firearms.
“These gangs are organized. They are terrorists. And look at these guys, they thought they got away with it for almost a decade, but they did not,” Bondi said, “They are living among us because they think they can get away with this, and they cannot.”
The Trump administration has worked closely with state and local law enforcement in fighting MS-13 in recent months, with those most recent arrests being a part of a multi-agency operation named Operation Sombra De La Bestia, or Operation Shadow of the Beast.
“It doesn&#8217;t matter when you committed the crime. It doesn&#8217;t matter what part of this world you&#8217;re from. If you come here in this community and decide that you&#8217;re going to take a life, we&#8217;re going to unleash every single resource to bring you to justice,” Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/4-florida-homicides-connected-ruthless-ms-13-gang-solved-bondi">said</a> at the press conference.
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<div class="m"><picture><source srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/343/192/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/686/384/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1 2x" media="(max-width: 767px)" /><source srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/672/378/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/1344/756/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1 2x" media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" /><source srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/931/523/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/1862/1046/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1 2x" media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" /><source srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/720/405/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/04/1440/810/pam-bondi-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1 2x" media="(min-width: 1280px)" /></picture></div>
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MS-13 originated as a street gang in Los Angeles, but has grown into a transnational organization with strongholds in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
“These vicious and callous acts by MS-13 not only shattered lives but also undermined the safety and security of South Florida communities,” said Hayden P. O’Byrne, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

US-NEWS-FLA-GANG-INDICTMENT-FL

AG Pam Bondi Hits Three Alleged MS-13 Gang Members With Murder Charges In Reopened Cold Case

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Murder

The Justice Department announced Wednesday night that another “high level” MS-13 gang member wanted in connection to multiple murders had been arrested in New York. 
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Joel Vargas-Escobar, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, had been arrested on Tuesday and charged with a racketeering conspiracy involving 11 murders. Vargas-Escobar, who was previously deported in 2018, is suspected of being part of the command and control structure of MS-13 in Las Vegas and California. 
Vargas-Escobar was charged with racketeering conspiracy, two counts of murder-in-aid of racketeering, and multiple gun charges. He was detained by law enforcement on Long Island. 
“The American people are safer following the arrest of yet another MS-13 leader thanks to the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Joint Task Force Vulcan,” Bondi said. “This terrorist entered our country illegally and is accused of orchestrating 11 murders — under President Trump’s leadership, we will not rest until this terrorist organization is completely dismantled and its members are behind bars.”
Vargas-Escobar is accused of operating MS-13’s “Parkview” clique in Las Vegas and personally ordering two murders and orchestrating nine more, according to the DOJ. The murder victims were taken to remote mountain or desert locations and tortured before being killed.  
“The arrest of yet another violent and dangerous MS-13 leader is a major win for our FBI agents, law enforcement partners, and safer American streets,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Our agents and analysts are continuously coordinating across multiple field offices and investigating with our valued partners to keep this work going — and we will not stop until that work is done.”
The alleged gang leader first appeared in court Wednesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York – Central Islip. He will be sent to Nevada for his trial, where he could face life in prison if convicted. 
This arrest follows an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-arrests-top-ms-13-leader-just-outside-d-c-america-is-safer-today" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement last week</a> the FBI had arrested 24-year-old Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, who the DOJ said was the top leader of MS-13 for the East Coast. He was arrested and charged with immigration and gun crimes last week during a predawn operation in Virginia.

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FBI Arrests ‘High Ranking’ MS-13 Member Accused Of ‘Orchestrating’ 11 Murders

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