Thursday, June 19, 2014

Teen gang members set free after illegally entering U.S.

6/19/2014


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Covered from head to toe in tattoos, MS-13 gang members are easy to point out.

National Border Patrol council spokesman Chris Cabrera said the MS-13 gang is notorious for violence in Mexico and Central America.

"They will usually have MS-13 tattooed they are usually pretty predominant with their tattoos a lot of face tattoos," said Chris Cabrera with the National Border Patrol Council.

Action 4 News confirmed through an investigation that members of the gang and others in Mexico are now sending their young recruits here.
And to the surprise of many, those that are under the age of 17 are detained and later set free on U.S. soil.

“They don’t have criminal history in the U.S. We will reunite them with their family."

This worries local law enforcement.

San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez said his stash house unit has encountered these types of gang members many times before.

“They are not your average person that wants to better their lives," said Chief Gonzalez.

The chief said when officers encounter potential gang members to put them in a database, hoping that keeping a record will do some good.

“We know that the MS-13 has a lot of factions here in the U.S. We know they are all over the U.S," Chief Gonzalez continued.

But the problem is underage gang members are exploiting a sort of loop-hole in the system.

They cross with large groups and use their age to their advantage.

Cabrera said Border Patrol has no way of checking immigrants’ criminal backgrounds in their home country, and if some sort of data base is not created more will slip by.

“I think the only way to put a stop to this is to deport them, send them back home."

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