[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 73 (Monday, June 6, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6104-S6105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. NELSON of Florida:
  S. 1168. A bill to amend section 212 of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act to make inadmissible individuals who law enforcement 
knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe, seek entry into the United 
States to participate in illegal activities with criminal gangs located 
in the United States; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I wish to bring to the 
attention of the Senate a serious threat to the security of our Nation. 
Criminal gangs, originally from Central America, are infiltrating 
several major cities in this country and threatening the safety and 
security of our citizens.
  MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, is a brutal and violent gang 
responsible for horrific acts of violence. MS-13 gang members are 
identified by the various tattoos on their bodies. They have origins in 
El Salvador, but you find they are frequently found now in Honduras, El 
Salvador, and Nicaragua. This gang uses extreme

[[Page S6105]]

acts of violence to try to intimidate people, not only in Central 
America but in America itself. According to the Bureau of Immigration, 
Customs and Enforcement, MS-13 poses the greatest threat to Los 
Angeles, New York, Baltimore, Newark, the Washington, DC, area, and 
Miami. MS-13 has been active in increasing their numbers here in the 
United States by assisting other members enter the United States from 
Central America. Federal authorities provide that there are between 
8,000 and 10,000 members of MS-13 in the United States and my concern 
is that if we don't act now to stop them, they will be able to get a 
toe-hold here in the United States and significantly increase their 
membership and horrific form of violence.
  What is some of that violence? According to law enforcement 
officials, MS-13 has been involved in murder, extortion, robbery, rape, 
drug trafficking and human smuggling throughout the United States. Here 
in the Washington, DC, area, for example, two members of MS-13 were 
found guilty of the stabbing and throat slashing murder of a 17-year-
old government witness who was 7 months pregnant at the time of her 
gang-ordered execution. And to apparently to send some kind of message 
of intimidation, the gang members disfigured her corpse. Many of their 
crimes also involve drug trafficking and could very well expand to arms 
trafficking. And, who knows whether their crimes will soon extend into 
the terrorist network itself that we are so concerned about. The Bureau 
of Immigration, Customs and Enforcement reports that there has been 
speculation of links between MS-13 and international terrorist groups 
like al-Qaida. The F.B.I. is investigating these rumors of a possible 
link, but to date has discovered no evidence establishing this link.
  In Honduras, MS-13 members murdered 28 women and children 2 days 
before Christmas. Their victims were on a bus returning home after 
having gone to shopping for Christmas gifts; some of the children were 
still clutching the Christmas gifts they had just purchased with their 
mothers. The purpose of this horrific act of violence was to intimidate 
the Government of Honduras from cracking down on these gangs.
  Over the recess last week, I went to Honduras with our Four Star 
General, the Combatant Commander of the United States Southern Command.
  We went there to meet with the Honduran President Ricardo Maduro, and 
our ambassador, Ambassador Palmer, to try to have a better 
understanding of this problem, and what we should do not only to help a 
country such as Honduras that is trying to get its arms around these 
gangs and to stop the violence but to keep this from spreading into the 
United States.
  As a result of what I have learned, and the exceptional threat this 
gang poses to United States, I am filing legislation today that will do 
a couple of things. First, it will give our consular officers in law an 
automatic reason to reject entry into the United States for anyone they 
know, or have reasonable grounds to believe, is a member of one of 
these gangs. Secondly, this legislation I am filing would up the 
penalty for anyone smuggling one of these gang members into the United 
States from 1 to 10 years.
  I am also cosponsoring legislation with the senior Senator from 
California which goes after gang violence by trying to give additional 
Federal assistance to local law enforcement as they try to grapple with 
this.
  I have a good example. In south Florida last week, after I had 
returned from Honduras, I met with the joint task force of multiple 
levels of law enforcement--city, the county, sheriff deputies, the 
Feds, and the State--that has formed a joint team to attack this 
problem and to try to keep these gangs, specifically MS-13, from 
getting a toe-hold in south Florida. We hope if we are successful in 
Florida it will be an example to the rest of the country, and with the 
increased penalties offered by this legislation, it will give our law 
enforcement and our consular officers additional tools to stamp out 
this violence, this gang-related activity that could lead itself very 
much into the hands of the terrorists who are trying to exact so much 
harm upon us as a country and as a people. The time to act to stop the 
spread of this gang is now, before they are able to spread their web of 
violence to more cities and areas within the United States. I hope that 
my colleagues will join me and support this bill.
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