In this op-ed, Salvadoran Estefani Alarcon explains how those outside of the United States have been impacted by MS-13, with some even being forced to move from home.
While I was growing up, the holidays were what I looked forward to the most, as any kid my age would. But for me, the season was more than Christmas and presents: During the holidays, my grandparents would visit my family in Los Angeles from El Salvador. They would bring a little of what we left behind with them: pollo campero, letters, pictures, and stories.
About four years ago, their annual visits ended, and they moved to the United States legally, to stay for good — not because they wanted to but because they had no other choice. But my grandfather especially wasn’t keen on being away from El Salvador for too long. He complained about the crops he left behind, and the land no one else could take care of as well as he could. But the country he and my grandmother loved is no longer what they knew it to be, largely because of the gang known as MS-13.
Born in the streets of Pico Union, Los Angeles, in the 1980s, the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, has since spread throughout the U.S. and beyond. In the early 1980s, civil wars in El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua increased the migration of Central American people to the U.S.People in those countries endured violence and oppression, and as a result of deadly government operations, (some financially supported by the U.S.), many people left for the U.S., and a sizable population settled in Los Angeles. There, a group of Salvadoran immigrants formed the gang known as MS-13. “Mara” is a Central American term for gang, "Salva" is short for El Salvador, and “trucha” means “trout” in English but is slang for “alert” or “vigilant.” The 13 symbolizes the letter M which is the 13th letter in the alphabet, according to Insight Crime, a foundation that studies organized crime in Latin America.
Other local gangs began to notice the rapid growth of MS-13 in their community. The Mexican Mafia became allied with the group, increasing the number of members. The Los Angeles Police Department soon began a major crackdown on gangs known as Operation Hammer, and gang members soon filled California prisons. In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton's deportation policies began sending undocumented gang members back to El Salvador, where the government was still destabilized from the civil war.
Central American countries were not prepared to control the influx of people returning: Between 2000 and 2004, about 20,000 criminals were sent back to Central America, according to one estimate cited in Insight Crime. In El Salvador and elsewhere, law enforcement used a strategy to combat gang violence known as mano dura, or "iron fist," which worked by violently suppressing the gangs as well as incarcerating as many people as possible. Meanwhile, MS-13 resorted to what they knew best, extortion and violence.
The Salvadoran government’s strategy backfired after many young people were incarcerated and later released without any charges. Rates of crime and violence in the streets increased as gang members gathered in prisons and developed national operations. Today, the homicide rate in El Salvador is one of the highest in the world, although it decreased in 2016. The crime rate is such a concern that the U.S. Department of State has a Level 3 travel warning for people considering traveling to El Salvador that cites safety concerns and tells those with travel plans to reconsider.
Young people and families fleeing El Salvador today are escaping gang violence, recruitment, extortion, and possible death. Ala Amoachi, a lawyer in Long Island, New York, told Slate that boys are being recruited at a very young age. "Before, it was 12 or 13, but now, for the first time, I’ve been hearing multiple stories about children as young as 6 or 7 being forced to join, or killed for not wanting to join the gangs." According to The Guardian, women are sometimes forced to join as “girlfriends” for the members, and they and their families are threatened with violence if they don't agree. Young women facing deportation back to El Salvador have said that they face a death sentence, as gang members consider them traitors for leaving El Salvador in the first place. And the situation for children in El Salvador is especially dire because of the violence as thousands of unaccompanied migrant children from the country have crossed the border into the U.S. in recent years.
My grandparents had to leave El Salvador after being extorted for money. They were being threatened to pay $10,000 and a monthly quota of $200 for "protection” — a protection that is not even guaranteed. Afraid of being murdered, my grandparents said goodbye to their beloved home, one that no longer was familiar to them. It is common for gang members to extort people who have family members in the U.S. because they believe they have the money to pay. Business owners are also extorted for both El Salvador and Central American communities across the country.
Stories like my grandparents' raise fear in other Salvadorans, a fear that silences them and makes them avoid confrontation with gang members. Extortion is common and effective as people prefer to pay rather than taking any risk: In 2016, 2,066 cases were reported, a decrease from the year prior.
Over the past three decades, MS-13 has operated as a dangerous gang with criminal activity at its core. Lack of sufficient government support and aggressive policing in El Salvador has arguably helped fueled the growth of the gang. Now MS-13 has expanded and made its way to the East Coast of the U.S.
During the State of the Union address on January 30, President Donald Trump used MS-13 as a way to push for his immigration agenda and continues to target immigration reform with the use of the “bad immigrant” scenario. But criminals and gang members are not a reflection of every Latinx immigrant in the U.S., and MS-13 is not the reflection of every Central American immigrant in the country, either.
Related: I'm Salvadoran, Living in the United States Under Temporary Protected Status
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