Late last week I reported 16 MS-13 gang members exploiting the unaccompanied minor crisis were being housed at a Border Patrol processing center in Nogales, Arizona. The gang members were discovered after graffiti was left on bathroom walls. Further investigation shows gang members from different criminal organizations were also discovered after a fight broke out between two rival MS-13 and 18th Street gang members in a shared holding cell. The gang members admitted in interviews with Border Patrol agents they had engaged in murder and torture in their home countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala before heading north to the United States. It was also confirmed through sources gang members have been using the processing center as a recruitment hub for new members.
Now, Border Patrol documents newly obtained exclusively by Townhall detail the crimes MS-13 and other gang members in the Nogales processing center admit to committing.
In an interview with Border Patrol agents, 15-year-old self admitted MS-13 member with the last name Aguilar said he killed a member of rival gang 18th Street six months ago with a fully automatic Uzi before coming to the United States.
"He claims he walked over to the wounded rival, and emptied the magazine into the rival's body," interview documents show.
Aguilar also admitted to, "being involved in extortion for the gang," and "collecting money from local vendors and threatening them if they refused to pay."
Another MS-13 member with the last name Garcia admitted to receiving a phone call while in the processing center from El Salvador with orders to carry out a murder on a rival gang member.
"Garcia stated he received a call from homeboy who is incarcerated in an El Salvadoran prison. This individual ordered Garcia to kill a rival 18th Street gang member," documents state. "Garcia stated his plans were to reunite in Los Angeles with is father."
MS-13 gang members aren't the only violent criminals present in the processing center. Gang members from the 18th Street gang are also being housed there. One young minor with the last name Gonzales admitted to killing a rival gang member two years ago after receiving orders to do so from inside an El Salvador prison. Another with the last name Vasquez, who said his final destination in Maryland to reunite with his father living in the U.S. illegally, admitted to scouting and planning hits on rival gang members before entering the U.S. and said his brother, who is also an 18th Street member, coached him about how to cross the southern border into the U.S. He paid a Mexican soldier 200 pesos at a checkpoint in order to get through Mexico from El Salvador. Vasquez earned the tattoo shown below after murdering an MS-13 member.
By U.S. legal standards many gang members operating in Central American countries and traveling north are classified as minors due to being under the age of 18. However, many young males are actively engaged in violent cartel and criminal activity, yet are treated as children when processed through the Department of Health and Human Services or Department of Homeland Security systems. Due to current policy, these "minor" gang members cannot be separated by Border Patrol agents from the rest of the general population of children. According to the FBI, MS-13 regularly targets middle and high school students for recruitment. The FBI also lists 18th Street as one of the most violent gangs in the country. Business Insider describes 18th Street as having special focus on document fraud and homicide.
According to sources inside the processing center, these unaccompanied MS-13 and 18th Street minors are being held for placement inside the United States.
As if things couldn't get any worse at this point, not only does Border Patrol have a gang problem inside processing facilities, agents now have a gang rivalry problem between MS-13 and 18th Street on their hands.
"I am very proud of the men and women of the United States Border Patrol. The American taxpayer gets a very good bang for his buck from us," a source said under the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. "The handling of the unaccompanied juveniles has been nothing short of a miracle, the USBP has been the leading force in that effort."
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