Mara Salvatrucha In Northern Virginia

Mara Salvatrucha, otherwise known as MS-13, is a growing problem in Northern Virginia, which has become one of its two primary centers of activity here in the United States along with Los Angeles where it started back in the 1980s. It was founded by immigrants from El Salvador, fleeing from the violence of the civil war occurring there in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

This is an issue that our candidates for Attorney General need to address and provide solutions to. MS-13 is considered by the FBI probably the most dangerous gang in the United States. It consist of tens of thousands of members worldwide, including between 8,000 and 10,000 known within the borders of the United States. In our day and age of increased connectivity as a result of technology, gangs have become the new organized crime, what the mafia used to be. They still remain difficult to deal with due to a decentralized hierachy structure, though MS-13 seems to be trying to create a more hierarchial structure in order to be even more effective at doing what it does, which consists primarily of fighting gangland wars in DC and Northern Virginia.

This article in Newsweek explains the growing problem and is a fascinating look at something that most Virginians are not aware of, except for those who have experienced the brutality of MS-13. It needs to publicized, and it needs to be dealt with before it becomes even more of a problem than it already is. We don't need any more mutiliated bodies found on the banks of the Shenandoah River or shootouts in the streets of Northern Virginia neighborhoods.