On March 11, 2005
I reported on Ebner Anivel Rivera-Paz, a leader of the vicious Mara Salvatruchas (MS-13) gang who is currently behind bars, issuing orders to attack members of the
Minuteman Project while they are patrolling the Mexican border starting in April. Well now a second leader of the gang has issued the same orders to "teach a lesson" to the volunteer citizens patrol.
Washington Times
James Gilchrist, a Vietnam veteran who helped organize the vigil to protest the federal government's failure to control illegal immigration, said he has been told that California and Texas leaders of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, have issued orders to teach "a lesson" to the Minuteman volunteers.
"We're not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers," Mr. Gilchrist said. "And those guys are just a bunch of punks."
...
The MS-13 gang has established major smuggling operations in several areas along the U.S.-Mexico border and have transported hundreds of Central and South Americans -- including gang members -- into the United States in the past two years. The gang also is involved in drug and weapons smuggling.
Gang members in America have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, extortion, rapes and aggravated assaults. Authorities said that the gang has earned a reputation from the other street gangs as being particularly ruthless and that it will retaliate violently when challenged.
The MS-13 gang, with 20,000 members nationwide, has risen in recent months to such prominence that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, has begun a nationwide crackdown on gang members in this country -- as part of a sweeping law-enforcement initiative known as Operation Community Shield.
It just shows that when we actually put our mind to it we can actually deal with criminal elements. On March 15, 2005
103 of the MS-13 gang were arrested. On that same day a member
slashed his female attorney with a razor blade while in court.
