Sessions Declares MS-13 a ‘Priority Target’ and Links Them to Opioid Crisis

IMPORTANT: The full content of this page is available to premium users only.

Monday, November 13, 2017
Author: 
Madeline Henshaw-Greene
Volume: 
33
Issue: 
11
Abstract: 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered remarks to the International Association of Chiefs of Police on Monday, October 23, in which he announced that the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang would be elevated to priority status for the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). According to the DOJ, this move is the next step in “fulfilling President Trump’s goal of stamping out the brutal transnational crime organization.” During his remarks, Sessions repeatedly emphasized the significance of the threat that MS-13 poses to U.S. national security by equating the street gang with international drug cartels, who both he and the current administration have blamed for the current opioid epidemic.