Law Enforcement Around The U.S. Fight The Street Gang MS-13

LANGLEY PARK, MD - APRIL 20: Armed police from Maryland's Prince George's County Anti-Gang Unit question and detain the girlfriend of a confirmed gang member of Mara Salvatrucha 13, or MS-13, April 20, 2006 in Langley Park, Maryland. The gang member had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest for 1st degree assaul from a stabbing incident against a rival gang member in early 2006. The girlfriend, 18 years, while not an initiated MS-13 member, has three children by different MS-13 members and is in government counseling and tattoo removal programs. Langley Park is a Washington, D.C. suburb known for its large Hispanic population with a well entrenched presence of MS-13. MS-13 was originally formed in Los Angeles in the early 1980's following a mass exodus of families from El Salvador fleeing the country's violent civil war between leftist guerillas and a right wing government. MS-13 formed for neighborhood protection after Salvadorean immigrants were continually preyed upon in Los Angeles by well organized Mexican street gangs. There are an estimated 10,000 MS-13 members now in the US in approximately 33 states. MS-13 is involved with drug smuggling, extortion and prostitution. Gang members not born in the US are deported back to Central America if they commit a felony or deportable offence. The policy of deporting criminals has come under political attack for serving only as a short term solution to a failed immigration policy. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)