Well here's a surprise. The LA Times actually admits that there's an illegal immigration problem and that our lax enforcement of immigration policy is to blame. Of course it has. Mara Salvatrucha, MS-13, is a gang that has gained a foothold in the US and across Central America. The vicious gang has been involved in everything from robbery, murder and extortion to illegal alien smuggling and rumors of possible contact with al-Qaeda to smuggle terrorists into our country.

LA Times

On a sweltering afternoon, an unmarked white jetliner taxies to a remote terminal at the international airport here and disgorges dozens of criminal deportees from the United States. Marshals release the handcuffed prisoners, who shuffle into a processing room.

Of the 70 passengers, at least four are members of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a gang formed two decades ago near MacArthur Park west of the Los Angeles skyline.

For one of them, Melvin "Joker" Cruz-Mendoza, the trip is nothing new. This is his fourth deportation — the second this year.

Wiry with a shaved head, the 24-year-old pleaded guilty in separate felony robbery and drug cases in Los Angeles. "MS" covers his right forearm. Other tattoos are carved into the skin above his eyebrows.

In the last 12 years, U.S. immigration authorities have logged more than 50,000 deportations of immigrants with criminal records to Central America, including untold numbers of gang members like Cruz-Mendoza.

Tipped by: Captain's Quarters who digs a little deeper into the Times article that shows an example of how foolish we are with the way we continually deport criminals only to have them return again and again.