While MS-13 has dominated headlines with relentless coverage, a deeper examination of their actions reveals the true scope of their terror, demanding a closer look to understand who they really are. Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) or roughly translated as “Salvadoran Gang” is by all official accounts a transnational terrorist organization born from Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s; it’s now a 10,000 (CLCJ) strong menace in the United States (50,000–70,000 globally), driven largely by foreign nationals, many here illegally. With machetes, guns, and raw brutality, MS-13 terrorizes communities, extorts businesses, and targets law enforcement to seize control and sow fear. The Department of Justice, FBI, and ICE have hit MS-13 with terrorism charges since 2020, and President Trump’s January 20, 2025 executive order to designate it a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under 8 U.S.C. § 1189, confirms its danger. Legacy media outlets like CBS, where Trump-hating left-leaning Gayle King spins woke garbage on a daily basis, bury this truth. Americans demanded justice by overwhelmingly electing Trump in 2024. Below are definitive examples why President Trump appropriately designated MS-13 as an FTO — murders, extortions, conspiracies, demonstrating MS-13’s terrorist campaign.
MS-13 — The U.S. Program
According to federal court documents, MS-13 operates through localized “cliques” across Queens, Long Island, and numerous other U.S. communities, as well as in El Salvador, Honduras, and parts of Europe. The gang funds its operations primarily through drug trafficking and extortion, gaining infamy for its savage killings of rivals, disloyal members and every day innocent Americans. In New York’s Eastern District alone, MS-13 is linked to dozens of murders. Since around 2021, the gang’s U.S. operations have coalesced under a unified structure called the “U.S. Program” governed by a council of senior leaders known as “La Mesa” or “The Table.” Mostly incarcerated, La Mesa allegedly orchestrates murders nationwide, including in New York, California and Colorado.
MS-13’s Terrorist Campaign: Hard Evidence
Terrorism, per 18 U.S.C. § 2331, “is violence to intimidate civilians, influence policy, or disrupt government through murder or chaos.” MS-13, rooted in El Salvador’s civil war exodus, fits this perfectly. El Salvador labeled it a terrorist group in 2015 and U.S. prosecutors often charge its leaders with terrorism for their savage acts. Here are several cases among hundreds that demonstrate their terroristic tactics.
2016 Santa Cruz Murders (California): Salvadoran Erick Escalante-Torres and Jose Noe Ramirez-Avelar planned the murder of a rival to control turf, burning evidence from another killing. Convicted in 2020 with 27- and 22 -year sentences, respectively, for racketeering/murder. Their public violence screamed: submit or die.
2017 Houston, ICE arrests wanted criminal (Texas): Salvadoran MS-13 member Pedro Cruz-Rodriquez was a suspect in the aggravated murder of Jaime Roberto Loza Garay and the aggravated kidnapping of four other men in El Salvador. “According to an arrest warrant dated Sept. 5, 2017, he was also charged in his home country with domestic terrorism that threatens national security and public safety.”
2017 Long Island machete slaughter (New York): Salvadoran-led MS-13 cliques hacked Carlos Rivas-Majano in a park, mutilating his body to scare rivals. Tied to 70+ murders since 2016, a clear terrorist act.
2018 Maryland autistic woman murder: MS-13 member Walter Javier Martinize, plead guilty to raping and strangling 20-year-old autistic woman Kayla Hamilton. Martinez wrote a letter while he was incarcerated in which he admitted to committing four murders, two rapes, and other crimes.
2018 Murder conspiracy (New York – Virginia): Salvadoran kingpin Miguel Angel Corea Diaz was indicted for conspiring to murder and traffic drugs, hitting over 20 members. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. MS-13’s fear-driven grip in multiple states is real.
2018–2020 Queens and Long Island Killings (New York): In a 49-count indictment, Salvadoran leaders Edenilson Velasquez Larin and Hugo Diaz Amaya allegedly ordered the murders of Andy Peralta, Victor Alvarenga, Abel Mosso, and Eric Monge. These very public slayings terrorized neighborhoods.
2021 Ranfla Nacional indictment (New York): Fourteen MS-13 “Board of Directors,” led by Salvadoran Borromeo Enrique Henriquez (“Diablito de Hollywood”), were indicted for alleged terrorism, running military-style camps with rocket launchers.
2023 leader arrests (New York): Salvadoran bosses Vladimir Antonio Arevalo-Chavez, Walter Yovani Hernandez-Rivera, and Marlon Antonio Menjivar-Portillo were charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to provide or conceal material support to terrorists, and narco-terrorism conspiracy. They were also charged with illegal alien smuggling conspiracy which resulted in death.
2025 Kingpin arrest (Mexico): In December 2020, Roman-Bardales was indicted along with 26 other high-ranking MS-13 leaders by the Eastern District of New York. He faces serious charges, including conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, narco-terrorism conspiracy, racketeering conspiracy, and alien smuggling conspiracy. On March 18, 2025, he was arrested in Mexico and transferred to the United States to stand trial.
2025 Maryland takedown: Salvadoran leader David Alejandro Orellana-Aleman was arrested February 27, 2025, in Hyattsville, charged with extortion and terrorist affiliation.
While we can’t confirm whether these alleged MS-13 criminals were devoted fathers or not, the media’s fixation on spinning such sob stories, as seen in the absurd Kilmar Garcia debacle, is beyond ridiculous.
MS-13’s Terrorist DNA
MS-13 operates as a terrorist organization, not a mere street gang, through its calculated brutality and control tactics. The gang’s public murders, often gruesome and staged for maximum fear, paralyze communities, like the machete slaying of a young man in New York to warn rivals and residents alike. MS-13 extorts businesses and families, demanding payments under threat of death, to dominate neighborhoods and fund its operations. It targets law enforcement with ambushes and assassination plots, aiming to weaken government authority, as seen in attacks on police in California and Virginia. Beyond violence, MS-13 pursues political influence, using its power to intimidate officials and sway policies, particularly in Central America. This combination—public terror, economic control, attacks on authorities, and political manipulation—marks MS-13 as a terrorist force, indistinguishable from groups that weaponize fear to achieve their ends.
Media’s Failure to Expose MS-13’s Terrorist Threat
Legacy media outlets like CBS, CNN, and NBC routinely downplay MS-13’s terrorist activities, undermining public awareness of a grave danger. Instead of spotlighting the gang’s brutal murders, extortions, and attacks on law enforcement, these networks often frame MS-13 as a byproduct of migration or poverty, sidestepping its organized campaign of violence. This failure to fully report the truth leaves Americans unprepared for a real threat, deepening distrust in mainstream news. The same pattern of selective reporting appears in other establishment failures, like popular search engine’s biased algorithms that suppress balanced views on the SAVE Act, showing how media anti-conservative narratives shield criminals and terrorists like MS-13 while obscuring reality.
MS-13, born from Salvadoran immigrants and fueled by foreign nationals, slaughters and terrorizes Americans from California to New York. Its dozens of murders in New York, public atrocities, and political plots prove it’s no mere gang. The DOJ’s prosecutions, Trump’s FTO order, and social media outrage demand real and lasting action. Some MS-13 cases might not be so obvious, but the core truth holds—Americans deserve and demand safety from this terrorist scourge and to his credit President Trump appropriately designated them as terrorists.
M. Ray Evans, a U.S. Navy veteran who served his time, lives in Northeast Florida, with his wife, Grace. Recently retired after decades as a senior executive in international real estate development, working across more than ten countries, mostly in East Asia, where he built a solid track record over the years. A conservative and patriot by conviction.
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