July 28 (UPI) — President Donald Trump traveled to Long Island, N.Y., Friday to speak on the government’s plan to “destroy” the MS-13 gang and others like it.
The island in particular has faced an increase in violence related to the gang — also known as Mara Salvatrucha — in recent months. Local police said there have been 17 MS-13-linked murders in the past 18 months in Suffolk County, where Trump spoke.
“Together we’re going to restore safety to our streets and peace to our communities and we’re going to destroy the vile, criminal cartel MS-13 and many other gangs,” Trump said while flanked by local and state police.
“Don’t be too nice,” he encouraged the officers.
Also attending the event were Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who earlier in the week traveled to El Salvador to speak with the government about the gang’s presence there.
MS-13 was formed in the 1980s in Los Angeles among an influx of Salvadoran immigrants fleeing civil war in Central America. The United States deported some of the gang members back to El Salvador, where the gang took hold there, CNN reported.
Trump promised to protect the U.S. borders to keep criminal immigrants from entering the United States.
“We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you and we will deport you,” Trump said.
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