U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an active MS-13 gang member in Galloway, Ohio Tuesday who was wanted for multiple crimes in his native El Salvador.
Santos Ceferino Amaya-Cruz, a 35-year-old who has been deported twice previously, was charged by Salvadoran authorities two years ago with organized terrorism (gang membership), aggravated homicide, creating danger to national security and public peace.
The MS-13 gang member will remain in ICE custody pending removal, according to the ICE press release.
“Transnational gangs like MS-13 are a blight on communities at home and abroad, and must be confronted with the full might of law enforcement,” said Rebecca Adducci, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Detroit field office director. “Amaya-Cruz will now face justice in his home country for the horrendous crimes for which he stands accused.”
ERO has removed more than “3,700 foreign fugitives from the United States who were sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder” since 2009. Furthermore, in fiscal year 2019, ICE removed or returned 267,000 aliens. ERO arrested 143,000 aliens, more than 86 percent of whom had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, according to the ICE press release.
In Ohio, ICE has been busy with arresting MS-13 gang members. As The Ohio Star reported, the enforcement agency nabbed Juan Carlos Alvarez-Robles who had convictions spanning three decades.
Alvarez-Robles’s crimes included “possession of a controlled substance, transporting/selling of narcotics, grand theft auto, as well as multiple accounts of theft and burglary.”
The Center for Immigration Studies published a report in February 2018 that showed ICE had arrested 17 suspected MS-13 gang members in Ohio.
Estimates show that there are 10,000 MS-13 gang members living in the United States. The transnational gang operates in 40 states and Washington D.C.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected].
