MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, is among the nation’s most notorious and violent gangs, and they’re a problem in the city of Houston.
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In a recent interview with NPR, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo talks about the impact of violent crime, particularly gang violence, on the fourth largest city in the United States. Founded in the prisons of California, MS-13 has been in the news recently due to the brutal murders of five men in Long Island by MS-13 members, and Trump’s promise to eradicate the gang.
“You know, we have about 20,000 documented gang members here in this city, and quite frankly, they’re vicious. But MS-13 I would consider the worst of the worst,” Acevedo told NRP, “I consider them a transnational terrorist organization because of the nature and the viciousness of their activities.”
Acevedo said that the majority of violent crime in the city of Houston is perpetrated by gang members. When asked if he assumes MS-13 members are undocumented immigrants, he responded that “a lot of them are. But some of them now are…second-generation American-born citizens…we just have to go after them regardless of their documentation and go after them hard because they are vicious.”
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