HOUSTON, Texas — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a Salvadoran national who is a member of the violent MS-13 gang. The man is wanted for aggravated homicide in his home country of El Salvador. He is one of that nation’s “Top 100” most wanted criminals.

The arrest of the member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang is “the latest result of stepped up collaborative efforts to locate Salvadoran criminal fugitives in the United States and return them to El Salvador to face justice,” a statement obtained from ICE by Breitbart Texas said.

Officers arrested 36-year-old William Magana-Contreras in Houston and placed him in custody. He is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide.

ICE ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) officers in Houston arrested Contreras who has a prior record for sexual assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

An investigation by the ICE National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center (NCATC) led to the arrest of the violent MS-13 gang member.

The goal of ERO’s SAFE (Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement) Initiative is to locate foreign fugitives who are in the United States. Investigations led to the arrest of more than 600 fugitives from El Salvador in just the last three years. Once arrested, the fugitives are removed to their native country. The public safety program eliminates the need for formal extradition requests.

In Fiscal Year 2016, ICE removed 240,255 foreign fugitives from the United States. Ninety-two of these individuals already had criminal records.

To combat MS-13 gang-related crime in Houston, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on April 11, the expansion of the Texas Anti-Gang Task Force (TAG). He also said a technical operations center will be created to address the sharp increase in rape and murder in the Houston area by violent gangs like MS-13. Abbott and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw addressed MS-13 and its connection to human smuggling, drug trafficking, murder, and rape.

“This recent wave of senseless violence cannot continue,” Governor Abbott told reporters at a press conference attended by Breitbart Texas. “Government’s foremost responsibility is to keep our citizens safe and secure. Texas will take action and use all lawful means to put an end to this lawlessness.” “I am directing state resources into Harris County to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to reduce crime in the Houston area,” Abbott said.

Federal officials told Breitbart Texas that ICE ERO officers would be working with TAG to apply all available resources to stopping the criminal activities of this gang in Houston.

In March 2017, Breitbart Texas reported that two MS-13 gang members in Houston smiled and waved to television cameras when they were in criminal court on charges of brutally raping two young girls, including a 14-year-old girl. They murdered one of them in what appeared to be part of a satanic ritual. The 14-year-old girl who survived told authorities that the two men, Diego Rivera (18) and Miguel Alvarez-Flores (18) took her to an apartment and got her high and drunk. She was sexually assaulted there by a man known as “Flaco” and held in another apartment for 14 days. Six MS-13 gang members were living in the apartment. ICE officials confirmed to Breitbart Texas that the two MS-13 gang members were illegal aliens from El Salvador.

In June 2016, an MS-13 gang leader in Houston murdered a 14-year-old with a machete, reported Breitbart Texas. Four gang members hacked the boy to death in a wooded area in west Houston. The MS-13 members passed the machete as part of a gang ritual. They murdered the boy’s cousin when he refused to participate in the killing.

Two El Salvadorans pleaded guilty in Houston in April 2015 for the near beheading of a 16-year-old boy in the woods of Sam Houston National Park just north of Houston. MS-13 gang members ordered the hit on the Klein Forest High School student. Cristian Alexander Zamora (22) and Ricardo Leonel Campos Lara (19) pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the murder of Josael Guevara on federal property. Zamora bragged about the brutal killing on Facebook.

Breitbart News reported on April 29 that President Donald Trump said to those gathered at a rally in Harrisburg, PA, “We will build a wall folks, don’t even worry about it. Go to sleep. As the final thing we needed, we need it.” The President continued:

At the heart of my administration’s efforts to restore the rule of law has been a nationwide crackdown on criminal gangs, and that means taking the fight to the sanctuary cities that shield these dangerous criminals from removal. The last very weak administration allowed thousands and thousands of gang members to cross our borders and enter into our communities, where they wreaked havoc on our citizens. The bloodthirsty cartel known as MS-13 has infiltrated our schools, threatening innocent children

…

A very respected General recently told me that MS-13 are the equivalent in their meanness to Al Qaeda. My administration will not rest until we have dismantled these violent gangs, and we are doing it rapidly, and we are sending them the hell out of our country.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.