Gone are the days of tattooed faces or head to toe ink. Members of the MS-13 gang have evolved in an effort to avoid unwanted attention from police while maintaining strongholds in several major U.S. cities, according to federal and local law enforcement.
“The idea they have tattoos from feet to head, that’s not happening anymore,” a senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a lengthy interview with the Washington Examiner about the gang. The official spoke on background.
The “new norm,” according to the federal immigration agency that investigates, arrests, and deports members illegally residing in the United States, is someone who is “clean-cut, well-spoken, and [has] zero ink on his body.”
MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, is known for extremely violent offenses. In 2012, the Treasury Department declared it a transnational criminal organization for its work smuggling people, drugs, and guns between Central America and the United States. As of late 2019, roughly 10,000 members are in the country with tens of thousands more across the globe, primarily in El Salvador.
Prominently placed and hidden tattoos have long been a way for members to identify and flaunt their membership in the gang, which was formed by Salvadorans living in Los Angeles roughly four decades ago. Historically, members got tattoos after being promoted within the gang. The more tattoos on someone’s body, the higher his rank.
Two Northern Virginia Gang Task Force law enforcement officials told the Washington Examiner initiations, and promotions are accompanied by beatings at the hands of fellow members.
“MS is broken down into cliques, even though they all fly under the banner of MS, they are different cliques. Different cliques mean different rules, so some cliques may beat you every time you get promoted to a different rank,” said one task force official who has identified and gone after dozens of members. The official asked to remain anonymous due to the nature of the work.
“Every time you make a rank, you get beaten for 13 seconds,” the same task force official said. The four ranks are “paro,” “observation,” “chequeo,” and “homeboy.”
While the purple bruises remain a part of the initiation and promotion process, the black ink is not being imparted on up-and-coming members because they are an easy giveaway of their gang affiliation to people on the street, including members of other gangs who might retaliate if they think someone is dealing drugs or recruiting in an area run by a different gang.
The lack of tattoos makes it harder to identify people arrested by local or federal law enforcement. The ICE official said an unspecified number of MS-13 members embedded themselves within migrant caravans that departed El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras bound for the United States since 2017. While a few of the thousands may have attempted to use the large groups as cover, the lack of physical identifiers made it harder for Mexican officials to pick them out from the masses as they moved through the country, as well as more challenging for American federal agents to spot if the person was taken into custody at the border with a large group.
President Trump brought the gang to the forefront of his administration’s immigration agenda in 2017 and 2018 with more than 160 mentions of the organization in his first two years in office. The three officials told the Washington Examiner they have tracked MS-13 for years, not just since Trump began talking about it. They explained the gang is not only evolving in appearance but also in its work.
“Their number one crime for money is narcotics,” the ICE official said. The gang focused for years on firearms trafficking, as well as cocaine and marijuana dealing. Recently, its cliques within the Northern Virginia region have become more involved in human trafficking and forced labor, including the prostitution of enslaved or extorted minors and adults.
