Authorities have arrested a top MS-13 gang member, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Thursday morning.
“This is a massive victory for a safer America,” Patel wrote on X, adding, “Justice is coming.”
The man’s name has not been released, but Fox News Digital reports that authorities arrested the 24-year-old suspect, who is reportedly the gang’s top U.S. East Coast leader, just south of Washington, D.C. in Woodbridge, Virginia.
President Donald Trump praised the arrest on Truth Social, calling it a “A big deal!” and applauding the work of Patel, border czar Tom Homan, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Salvadoran immigrants formed MS-13 in 1980 in Los Angeles, and it has since spread nationwide.. The gang is known for being well-organized and “is heavily involved in lucrative illegal enterprises, being notorious for its use of violence to achieve its objectives,” according to the Department of Justice.
“DOJ will not rest until we make America safe again,” Bondi said in a post on X announcing the arrest.
Authorities “executed a clean, safe operation and the bad guy’s in custody,” Bondi told Fox News Digital. “And thanks to the FBI, we got one of the worst of the worst of the MS-13 off the streets this morning. Virginia and the country is a lot safer today.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, celebrated the news Thursday morning, writing on X, “Next stop: DEPORTATION.”
Since taking office, Trump and his administration launched an aggressive campaign to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens.
In September, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that more than 662,000 criminal illegal aliens were released into the interior of the U.S. Among those, 435,719 had already been convicted of a crime, with 226,847 more facing pending criminal charges.
News of the arrest of the MS-13 gang member comes just one day after Noem visited El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. The Trump administration recently deported about 250 criminal illegal aliens from the U.S. to the detention facility in El Salvador. According to the Trump administration, the deported illegal aliens are members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua.
“If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face,” Noem said while standing in front of a prison cell holding deported illegal aliens in the prison.
