Transnational Gang Transfer: El Salvador and the United States
War in El Salvador
Salvadoran Gangs in US
According to the Congressional Research Service report on MS-13 and 18th Street Gangs, transnational gangs are characterized by one or more of the following:
Being criminally active in more than one country
Committing crimes in one country that are controlled by gang leaders in another country
Being mobile and adaptive to new areas of operation
Having sophisticated criminal activities that transcend borders 1
The case of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 has recently brought the phenomenon of transnational gangs to the national stage. Born out of the Salvadoran civil war in the 1980's into the rough neighborhoods of Los Angeles, MS-13 has grown to nearly 10,000 members across 33 states. This has led to increased attention from law enforcement agencies and immigration officials, whose deportation policies reinforce the flow of gang culture to and from El Salvador. 2
http://umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects07/transgang/transnation.html
