Maras operate as de facto governments with terror and absolute power.
Technologically-enhanced communication between gang cells limits individual and families' ability to relocate to escape threats
National government is unable to protect citizens due to endemic corruption, lack of funding, inadequate training, inconsistent leadership and fear of gangs. Those who seek aid from local officials also more likely to suffer from increased threats.
Possible gang-based asylum claims based on: 1) refusal to join gangs on account of political opinion or religious conviction; 2) imputed familial ties (family members threatened by gangs are members of a particular social group.)
"For a decade, the United States has exported its gang problem, sending Central American-born criminals back to their homelands -- without warning local governments."
"The result has been an explosive rise of vicious, transnational gangs that now threaten the stability of the region's fragile democracies."
"As Washington fiddles, the gangs are growing, spreading north into Mexico and back to the United States."
Honduran maras: MS-13, M-18, La Mao Mao, Los Batos Locos, Los Rockeros
“There is concern that (the maras) are buying up legitimate businesses and paying off government officials, including the police.”
Former President Maduro instituted Mano Dura (Iron Fist) Policy in 2001 to annihilate mara activity; “The concern is, that once the troops are back on the streets, and their presence is enthusiastically welcomed by the population, they may never leave again.”
Of maras deported from the USA back to Central America, estimated 65% return illegally
Stephen Johnson urges Congress to combine immigration and police crack-downs with policies promoting social progress to effectively combat gang growth.
Story of Ernesto “Satan” Deras, ex-gang member, who works as gang intervention counselor to reduce child involvement in gang activity.
500,000 immigrants with criminal records have been deported over the last 12 years.
MS-13 has an international network of 50,000 members.
Deported gang members not only become experts at crossing the border, they often act as 'coyotes' that guide others in crossing for a fee of about $3,000 per person.
The gang MS-13 attacked random group of bus passengers, killing 28 people in Dec. 2004, in protest of the government’s Iron Fist crackdown against gang activity.
Gang members prey on children (45% of Central American population is under the age of 15), particularly on vulnerable street children.
Iron Fist policies in El Salvador and Honduras are ineffective in addressing greatest social ills like corruption, drug trade, poverty and overpopulation.
Guatemalan Anti-Narcotics Operations Department discovered in Nov. 2002 that 320 of its officials were engaged in illicit bribery.
Death squads, composed largely of off-duty polic officers, have taken it upon themselves to carry out a "social purge" of gangs.
The age group of 15 to 19-year-olds, an especially impoverished and vulnerable group, provides most of the maras' new recruits
"Central America is killing its young people because it has condemned them to the stigma of gangs, while it does very little against the poverty, social exclusion, lack of education and destruction of families -- the origins of the violence into which they have fallen."
Gang members are trapped in a cycle: they join for protection, but are targeted for membership. Membership protects them from rival gangs, who also target them for membership.
Estimated 25,000-50,000 gang members in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are migrating from urban to rural areas and terrorizing the rural population.
16-year-old Edgar Chocoy deported back to Guatemala by a Denver judge on March 10, 2004 and killed by Mara Salvatrucha gang members on March 27th.
Chocoy joined M.S. from 12-14 years old, attracted to the brotherhood and purpose among members, which substituted for his lack of family at home
Due to his MS gang tattoos, Chocoy continued to be targeted by rival gang members at his mother’s house in L.A. He was kicked out of her house, then forced to participate in MS gang activities to avoid sleeping on the street.
Despite evidence supporting Chocoy’s asylum eligibility, the judge rejected his plea, basing “his decision on his belief that Chocoy could safely return to Guatemala and live an anonymous life” and on the boy’s involvement in the MS gang while in the U.S.
Reported: 36,000 gang members in Honduras; 14,000 members in Guatemala; 10,500 members in El Salvador; 1,100 members in Nicaragua; and 2,600 members in Costa Rica
IIRIR Act now broadly implemented in USA, provoking mass deportation of illegal immigrants, often involved in LA gangs.
Countries cannot absorb this “criminal exportation;” in some countries the number of deported criminals exceeds the number of incarcerated prisoners nationwide
Gang violence is a threat to the developing democracies in Central America.
FBI crackdown only exports the U.S. gang problem south to Central America.
Governments are responding with harsher laws, sending anyone who is a member of a gang to prison.
Human rights activists see this as an infringement of their civil liberties and say it does not solve the problem, while gang members argue that they are not monsters and that they only direct their violence at rival gang members.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act allowed the US the "expedited removal" of immigrants who had committed crimes, causing the deportation of thousands of gang members from Los Angeles to Central America.
Gangs maintained their structure and took root in their new homes.
Mara Salvatrucha is truly an international gang, keeping ties with members across Canada, the US, Mexico, and Central America.
Parents of Jose, a member of Los Puenteros, keep him chained inside the house to prevent him from going out on the streets and engaging in gang activity.
