MS-13 gang members were identified within a caravan of 1,600 migrants traveling from Honduras in Piedras Negras, Coahuila—a Mexican city bordering Texas. According to Milenio, a Mexican newspaper, the gang members were identified after “agitators” provoked protests in a federal facility for immigrants.
“We have data of agitators inside the facility, that there are members in the caravan whom are provoking the rest, some of them belong to the Mara Salvatrucha [or MS-13], some of the others have criminal records in their countries, and what we have been doing is deporting them directly with the national institute of migration,” said the Coahuila state government, according to Milenio.
Riot broke out in Mexican shelter in Piedras Negras where 1800 migrants from the last caravan are fenced in.
Some yelling: ‘we are hungry’ ‘let us out’.
The Secretary of Public Security for Coahuila told me it’s only about 100 people with ‘an agenda’ doing the rioting pic.twitter.com/49Nw286QnL
— Mariana Atencio (@marianaatencio) February 13, 2019
Migrantes quieren salirse de albergue de #PiedrasNegras, se amotinan en estos momentos…#Coahuila pic.twitter.com/hmdRSqRERj
— Telediario Saltillo (@telediarioSalti) February 13, 2019
Violent Protestors in Refuge
The agitators provoked a violent attempt to break free of the guarded facility, fighting federal police, leading to the deportation of 25 immigrants, said the Piedras Negras Mayor Claudio Bres, according to the Washington Examiner. No illegal aliens can be released from the refuge because they may attempt to enter the United States illegally. Only those who have humanitarian visas can leave the refuge temporarily, and only one at a time.
Alegando que se están vulnerando sus derechos humanos, integrantes de la #CaravanaMigrante se enfrentan a policías en albergue de #Coahuila ➡️https://t.co/r927my1KQl pic.twitter.com/IIYI4H9RNX
— El Heraldo de México (@elheraldo_mx) February 14, 2019
José Luis Pliego Corona, the secretary of security of Coahuila, informed the facility that it may close its doors on Feb. 23, but it will still provide care to the compliant immigrants inside, according to Super Channel 12. Milenio reported that 30 percent of the migrants who are in the facility have stated that they want to stay in Coahuila to work, while others will follow other legal routes, like being transported to other states to obtain humanitarian visas.
#PiedrasNegras | Extraen a 20 migrantes de albergue; hay ‘maras’ https://t.co/axzqoRIdZ3 pic.twitter.com/scaYZ8XJwc
— Siglo Coahuila (@SigloCoahuila) February 16, 2019
Cracking Down on MS-13
MS-13 gang members have been convicted of cruel and sinister crimes in the United States over the years—especially since the Trump administration took office, cracking down on the vicious gang. MS-13 has a motto of “kill, rape, control” and many of its members are illegal aliens that can be found in North and Central America.
“This Barbaric reputation greatly aids the gang in its collection of street taxes from local merchants and helps it to protect its turf and drug trade against opposing gangs who are afraid to face the ‘street terrorism’ it can wage against them,” Robert J. Bunker, an adjunct research professor at the U.S. Army War College told The Epoch Times.
According to Peter Fitzhugh, a special agent in charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigation, extortion and prostitution are the gang’s primary means for income in Long Island, New York, among other places.
