“I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.” In 1972, when Frances Ford Coppola’s The Godfather came out, that line was etched into people’s minds forever. The Mafia, La Famiglia, La Cosa Nostra, it had become known when that movie was made. Mafia movies began to pop up left and right. Scarface, Casino, Carlito’s Way, Goodfellas, and numerous other movies popped up after the Godfather’s success. Why? America loved the Mafia and they loved criminals.
Since the creation of the United States, there have been gangs. As new people came into the nation, they formed neighborhoods and to protect them, gangs were formed. When the Irish came, they formed gangs. When the Jews came, they formed gangs. The Russians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Italians, and numerous other ethnicities all came and created gangs. It was a means of protecting each other.
In America, we are notorious for beating up on the new guy. So, when the Irish came, the WASPs beat them up, saying they were not welcome and that they should go back to Ireland. What do you do when that happens? You come together and, united, fight back against those that are trying to beat you. Hence the creation of gangs like the Dead Rabbits, Plug Uglies, and Forty Theives.
When the Italians came, the same thing occurred. There were huge turf wars between the Italians and the Irish and what came from it was the creation of the modern day Italian mafia. The Black Hand fought the White Hand in New York City and the Italians won. Now, let’s fast forward to the 80s, 90s, and today.
If you have an interest in gangs, chances are, you’ve heard of gangs like the Latin Kings, a notorious gang with their roots in Latin countries. But, there’s one other gang that is of real importance, namely Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Mara Salvatrucha is an El Salvadorian gang that has recently grown to international boundaries with membership swelling well over 100,000 members. But, the big question that people ask is: how do these gangs get so many members? Specifically, how do so many criminals get into the United States? Simple…They’re illegal.
The cycle is a very simple one that the immigrants have found easy to exploit. By sneaking into the nation, they quickly move in and join one of the factions of MS-13. They go about their business, jack cars, sell drugs, mug people, etc, etc. If they are caught, what happens is they are found to be illegal and then sent back to the country they are from: deportation. That’s great…Only, one problem: You deport the individual, they go back to their country and recruit more members.
For instance, in 1993, El Salvador was just ending a civil war that had raged on for over a decade. Boys that had been fighting in that war were becoming men, and they were looking for more bloodshed. One member of MS-13, Francisco Campos, remembers being deported in 1993 and, in one day, being able to recruit three hundred new boys to the gang. According to the LA Times, Campos said, “I almost broke my fingers” due to the fact he had to beat each member in.
The problem with the United States is we are too lax with our deportation process. According to an interview conducted by the LA times, one member of MS-13 struck a deal with the U.S. attorneys office of Arizona admitting to being an illegal in America. What did he get? Ninety days in jail and a ten dollar fine. Can you believe it? Can you guess what happened? He was deported and according to family, he was back on the streets of LA two months later.
But it gets worse. According to The Washington Times, MS-13 had set up a major smuggling operation and members were being sent to the border with the orders to specifically target border patrols and Minutemen Project volunteers. American citizens were being targeted so that this gang could funnel their drugs and humans into the nation to further gain control. American citizens, protecting our borders from people trying to sneak in, were getting killed by those very same people trying to sneak in. Do you see a problem here?
The United States must do something about this issue. Since 9/11, most of law enforcement has gone from dealing with gangs to dealing with terrorism. A big problem, though, said by the FBI is that there is no traditional organized crime to keep control. The thing that is interesting about the Italian Mafia or the Russian Mafia or any of these international organized crime syndicates is that they tend to have control over the more violent gangs. But, when all the ‘families’ of the Mafia were taken down, there was no one in control but the gangs. Voila, you now have street gangs growing to fully operational international crime organizations.
The United States needs to secure their borders. As more members of these gangs join, more crime in America will appear. There will be more turf wars and more people killed. Securing our southern border cannot be a ‘I’ll get to it when I can’ task. It needs to be accomplished as soon as possible. The member of MS-13 who got off with just serving ninety days and a $10 fine has been caught four times sneaking back into America. Each time, he’s brought more members to join MS-13.
Mara Salvatrucha is just one of many gangs that gains such power through the deportation process conducted by America. If we are to succeed in taking down these gangs, we need to cut the life line and destroy their means of recruitment. Securing our borders is of the utmost importance and if we can do that, MS-13 will find their numbers beginning to dwindle as more and more members are deported or imprisoned. The fight against crime starts with taking away their assets. Remove soldiers and no longer can they fight.
The United States must do something. They must remove the threat. They need to strengthen the borders. And if it continues to get out of hand, have a “we will shoot if you cross” policy. I have no problem with immigrants that come in and try and become part of the system. It is those that try to cheat the tax payer that I have a problem with. It is those that do not respect my country that I have a problem with. Strengthen the borders and start making illegal immigrants citizens, and a lot of problems will go away.
About Jacob Cohen Donnelly
Your argument seems to say that every single person who comes to this country illegally has some kind of crazy blood lust and wants to rape, plunder, and pillage until America is nothing.
That’s one extreme argument. However, evidence suggests that there are millions of illegal immigrants in this nation right now and evidence suggests that there is currently a problem with illegals coming into America and boosting the numbers of gangs.