Border Patrol Arrests of MS-13 Gangsters Up 50 Percent in 2018

The number of MS-13 gang members arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents increased nearly 50 percent so far this year when compared to all of Fiscal Year 2017. The number of 18th Street gang members arrested nearly doubled the previous year.

With one month to go in the Fiscal Year 2018 reporting period, Border Patrol agents arrested 377 members of the hyperviolent transnational criminal gang known as MS-13, according to information obtained from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials. The arrests indicate an increase of 47.8 percent over the total number arrested in Fiscal Year 2017.

The 377 MS-13 gang members arrested so far this year is the highest number since Fiscal Year 2014 when 437 were arrested, officials stated.

In addition to the MS-13 gang members, Border Patrol agents also arrested 126 members of the violent 18th Street gang after they illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico or were otherwise encountered by agents, the report from CBP officials stated. That number is more than double the total number of arrests of 18th Street gang members in all of FY2017 (61 arrests). The arrests of 18th Street gang members by Border Patrol agents so far this year is the largest number in the five-year reporting period.

In total, Border Patrol agents successfully stopped 728 gang members from entering the U.S. this fiscal year. This is up from 536 in all of FY 2017 (a nearly 36 percent increase).

Other gangs with large numbers of arrests this year include Paisas (58) and Sureños (57).

The increasing number of arrests of gang members by Border Patrol agents stands in contrast to the total number of criminal aliens arrested at or near the border during the same period. The number of criminal aliens arrested dropped from a high in 12,842 in FY2016 to 8,531 in FY2017 and then to 6,259 so far in FY2018, the report stated.