Local law enforcement officials asked senators on Wednesday for more federal funding, and even changes to federal surveillance laws to help them battle the MS-13 gang, which is responsible for a growing wave of violence and murder across the country.
Those requests were made in response to what Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said was a problem being fueled by poor border security, allowing members of the Central American gang to enter the U.S.
“During the committee’s examination of America’s unsecure borders we have learned how transnational criminal organizations and drug cartels exploit American policies and our lack of border security to advance their criminal agenda,” Johnson said. He said the gang has even used U.S. schools to recruit members and carry out acts of violence.
The three local officials who testified Wednesday said violence is on the rise, and said the federal government needs to do more to help locals prosecute members of MS-13.
For example, Suffolk County, N.Y. Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said the federal government needs to boost the number of assistant attorneys general on Long Island.
“This would increase the number of federal prosecutions of MS-13 gang members, taking dangerous individuals off our streets, and likely generate significant intelligence due to the incentives in the federal system for defendants to cooperate with law enforcement,” he said in his prepared remarks.
He said the federal government needs to provide funding for gang prevention programs, and grants to localities to fight gangs. Sini also asked for more intelligence sharing between federal and local authorities.
“[I]t would be of significant assistance to our joint efforts to create a singular database with information relating to identified MS-13 gang members,” he said. “The database could include the gang member’s pedigree information, the clique he belongs to, his immigration status as confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, whether he is a UAC, whether he is actively under investigation, which jurisdictions are involved in any such investigation, and any other intelligence that is sharable and relevant.”
Thomas Manger, the Montgomery County, Maryland chief of police, went even further by saying the federal government should fund local task forces to focus on gangs, and loosen surveillance rules to make it easier for local authorities keep tabs on MS-13 members.
“I also urge Congress to act to balance citizens’ rights to privacy with law enforcement’s need to lawfully monitor and intercept electronic communications regarding criminal activity and potential deadly plots,” he said in his prepared remarks. He said many MS-13 members are using new technology to encrypt their messages to each other, a move aimed at “going dark” to avoid law enforcement.
“This expanding issue of ‘going dark’ must be addressed at the federal level to afford law enforcement the legislation and the tools they need to legally access encrypted communications that are used to coordinate criminal activities,” he said.
Each official warned that MS-13 appears to be growing more violent. Sini said New York’s Suffolk County has seen 17 homicides that authorities believe are attributable to MS-13. It’s believed that six teenagers have been murdered in Suffolk County since October alone, he said.
Manger said MS-13 is a gang that sometimes kills “just because” it can.
Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions made statements aimed directly at MS-13.
“We are targeting you. We are coming after you. The MS-13 motto is ‘kill, rape and control.’ That’s their motto. Our motto is going to be justice for victims and consequences for criminals,” Sessions said in April.
Part of the problem facing border agents is the number of MS-13 gang members who are entering the country as juveniles, which often means they can’t be treated like adult criminals. Once in the U.S., they use the extensive network they’ve created over the years to reconnect with the gang.
“MS maintains a close knit and reliable criminal network with cliques in at least forty-six states and the District of Columbia, as well as Canada and Central America,” Michael Conley, a detective in Chelsea, Massachusetts told the committee. “Accordingly, as law enforcement repeatedly observed over the years, MS members are extremely mobile and transient. After committing violent crimes, they frequently leave the jurisdiction and take up residence with an MS clique in another state or country.”
Sini warned that members are getting younger and younger.
“The median age of recent MS-13 arrestees is eighteen, however we have become aware of associates as young as ten years of age,” he said.
