If you were an administration hell-bent on stopping illegal immigration through the southern border and you wanted to stereotype Latinos as violent “bad hombres,” what a gift Mara Salvatrucha – or MS-13 – would be: the gang has taken root in many American cities, often terrorizing the surrounding community. The gang is not, however, quite what the administration describes: it is not a highly-centralized criminal organization, it is not a particular haven for undocumented immigrants (most MS-13 members were born here) and it is no more treacherous than many other homegrown crime networks. Bob speaks with Steve Dudley, co-director of Insight Crime, about how the Trump administration has used MS-13’s grotesque brand to its advantage.
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