How many had been deported from the US?
Via Daily Mail:
El Salvador delivered a big blow to the notorious MS-13 street gang, or Mara Salvatrucha, during a year-long operation that nabbed over 600 members, government officials revealed during a press conference on Tuesday.
‘Operation Arpon’, the nationwide probe also took down 18 high-level leaders, according to Attorney General Douglas Melendez.
The investigation centered around MS-13 gang activity that has for years plagued the western, central and eastern areas of the countries and destabilized El Salvador collectively and forced its citizens to seek refuge in the United States.
The crackdown on the vicious gang will certainly be welcomed by President Donald Trump, who has constantly made it a point to use the MS-13 as an example for his anti-immigration policies and the administration’s zero tolerance approach at the Mexico-US border.
During a December 2017 at the FBI Academy in Virginia, Trump said he would rather deport MS-13 gang members instead of housing them in American jails.
‘To any member of MS-13 listening, I have a message for you: We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you, we will throw you the hell out of the country,’ the President said.
‘And somehow I like it better than jail. Jail, we have to take care of them. Who the hell wants to take care of them? You know, the jail stuff is wonderful but we have to pay for it, right?'[…]
The Salvadorean Attorney General revealed that criminal investigation solved 64 homicides, the murders of five women, two feminicide cases, 51 extortion cases, 27 kidnappings and 93 homicide conspiracies.
The government also uncovered drug dealing and money laundering cases.
Among those apprehended was the mayor of Concepcion Batres, Benjamin Romeo Machuca Diaz, who lent his services to the ruthless criminal organization that has led to scores of Salvadoreans to flee the Central American country and seek refuge in the United States.
He was caught in a sting that took down 119 gangsters.
Other leaders that were also apprehended by the national police included Guillermo Stanley Corleto Ruiz, an Evangelical pastor, who financed the ‘Acajutla Locos’ [Acajutla Crazies].
Ruiz is accused of ‘loaning them cars’ and providing gang members false evidence of community service to seek their release from the Supreme Court of Justice.