Five myths about MS-13
WaPo
Myth No. 3: Illegal immigrants are coming to the U.S. to expand the gangs reach.
According to U.S. officials, MS-13 leaders in El Salvador are sending gang members to the United States to bolster local cells. As President Trump has equated illegal immigrants with MS-13 members who want to pour into and infest our Country.
Yet only a minuscule share of undocumented immigrants who have entered the country in the past few years are linked to MS-13, according to Stephanie Leutert at the University of Texas. The overwhelming majority of those who have joined the gang in Central America have never left their countries. A Florida International University survey of mostly imprisoned gang members in El Salvador in 2016 showed that 91 percent have never been in the United States. Those who leave often do so because of family, joining the massive migration flows from Central America, not because the gang instructs or sponsors them. In many cases, they are trying to flee the group and its violence. As with other brand-name gangs that have spread in the United States, the growth of MS-13 seems to be linked more to the relocation of family groups than to a deliberate expansion plan.