Think Progress: MS-13 is dangerous. But not in the way Trump thinks.

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When it comes to crime and criminals, Donald Trump has never shied away from making brash proclamations. In 1984, when the murder rate in New York City was soaring, the real estate tycoon proposed building a castle in Manhattan, complete with a working drawbridge to protect residents from criminals. In 1989, when a group of five teenagers were falsely accused of the brutal rape of the Central Park jogger, Trump famously bought full-page ads in four New York newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty.
And announcing his presidential candidacy in 2015, Trump vowed to build a “great, great wall” on the US border with Mexico and to keep out undocumented immigrants he described as “rapists” who are “bringing drugs…bringing crime” into the country.
As president, however, Trump has focused on a new criminal group — the MS-13 street gang — with which to stoke panic and paranoia. The trouble is that Trump can’t just fearmonger about this element — he needs to help solve it. So far, however, it looks like his policies will do the exact opposite.
Over the last year, the MS-13 has become one of Trump’s favorite subjects. In June, at a speech in Long Island, he vowed to “destroy the vile criminal cartel MS-13 and many other gangs” who turned “beautiful quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields.” During his State of the Union speech, he called on Congress “to finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13…to break into our country.”
Trump’s harsh rhetoric has been taken up by other Republicans. In November, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said MS-13 “leave misery, devastation and death in their wake” and vowed to crush them. During last year’s special election in Virginia, Republican candidate Ed Gillespie tried to pin increased MS-13 violence on his Democratic rival (and eventual winner) Governor Ralph Northam.
There is no doubt that MS-13 is incredibly dangerous. It has upwards of 70,000 members, has expanded to seven countries including Spain and Italy, and is renowned for its shocking displays of brutality, including in its initiation rituals. “Violence is central to MS-13’s ethos, its modus operandi and its evaluation and discipline of its own members,” read a recent report on MS-13 by InSight Crime, an investigative group with a focus on organized crime in South America. “The use of violence has enhanced the MS-13’s brand name, allowing it to expand in size and geographic reach.”
But just how and why MS-13 is such a threat is very different tale from the gruesome, cherry-picked stories that Trump likes to tell his base. What’s more, the Trump administration’s policies for combating the gang aren’t new or groundbreaking – they’re recycled proposals with a history of failure.... -Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/ms-13-is-dangerous-but-not-in-the-way-trump-thinks-da531613b764/
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