EXCLUSIVE: ‘People who deny there are criminals in the caravan are naive – MS-13 are everywhere.’ Ex-member of vicious gang says Trump is RIGHT and he knows nearly a dozen gangsters hiding among the migrants on way to US border
An 18-year-old who claims he is a former member of the vicious MS-13 gang says he knows of at least ten of his former cohorts who are hiding out in the mass of disheveled migrants marching north through Mexico
‘I don’t agree with anything Donald Trump stands for but on this occasion the President is right,’ he told DailyMail.com
The teen, who goes by ‘Pepito’, said most of his former associates were trying to leave the gang life behind but MS-13 bosses treat deserters as enemies and will have people mingling with the crowds to try to spot them
He explained: ‘My brother is still in MS-13 and he told me they have contacts looking for people right now in the caravan. They can come after you and they can take your life for this’
The migrant caravan formed in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on October 12, but the group of around 150 migrants swelled to 7,200 by the time they crossed into Mexico one week later
President Trump has maintained the convoy contains ‘criminals and unknown Middle Easterners’ that pose a terror threat and he plans to ‘send as many troops as necessary’ to the US border to dispel the migrants
On Thursday it was reported Trump was preparing an executive order to ban the caravan from entering the US, as his plan would block the migrants – who are still nearly a month away – from seeking asylum
By BEN ASHFORD IN TAPACHULA, MEXICO
DAILYMAIL.COM
26 October 2018
An 18-year-old who claims to be a former member of the feared Latin mafia MS-13 has backed President Trump’s controversial claim that the migrant caravan contains gangsters and criminals.
Trump has faced a barrage of criticism for insisting that the brutal Central American street gang’s operatives are embedded in the sprawling human convoy.
However the 18-year-old, an orphan who says he was lured into the gang at 16, told DailyMail.com he knows of at least ten of his former MS-13 cohorts who are hiding out in the mass of disheveled migrants marching north through Mexico.
‘I don’t agree with anything Donald Trump stands for but on this occasion the President is right,’ he warned. ‘People who deny there are criminals in the caravan are being naive. MS-13 are everywhere – they contaminate everything.’
The teen, who asked to be referred to by the street name ‘Pepito’ for fear of reprisals, said the majority of his former associates were trying to leave the gang life behind and turn their backs on violence.
However he warned that MS-13 bosses treat deserters as enemies and will have operatives mingling with the crowds to try to spot them.
He explained: ‘My brother is still in MS-13 and he told me they have contacts looking for people right now in the caravan.
‘It’s a big deal if you try to leave. They can come after you and they can take your life for this.’
MS-13 is regarded as the most dangerous and prevalent street gang in Central America and has been implicated in a string of recent killings in the US.
Pepito said he joined at age 16 after growing up in an orphanage in the city of Usulután, El Salvador which is plagued by poverty and gang violence.
He ran errands and delivered backpacks full of drugs and weapons but decided he wanted to leave after bosses insisted he take part in brutal fights with rival gang, Mara 18.
‘They were really nice to me, they gave me money. They started to ask me to do them favors but you never really had a choice,’ he explained.
‘They beat people up and you had to join in. They made me drive them around with big machine guns.
‘If you passed a member of Mara 18 in the street you were expected to kill them.’
Pepito decided to flee El Salvador when two of his best friends were shot dead. He traveled though Guatemala before rafting across the Suchiate River on August 23 – the same location where the migrant caravan poured into Mexico on Saturday.
The Rest…HERE
