YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio—President Donald Trump has for months been vocal about eradicating the MS-13 gang from the United States. The gang, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, has been the subject of numerous tweets from the president, including a July 27 post: “Big progress being made in ridding our country of MS-13 gang members and gang members in general. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!”
Two days earlier at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump called MS-13 members “the animals we’ve been protecting for so long.”
“You’ve seen the stories about some of these animals. They'll take a young, beautiful girl, 16, 15, and others, and they slice them and dice them with a knife,” he said.
MS-13’s weapon of choice is the machete, and many of its members, as well as its victims, are teenagers. In September last year, best friends Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15, were murdered by alleged MS-13 members while out walking in their Long Island hometown, Brentwood.
