A leader of the gang MS-13 was arrested in Virginia early Thursday, top Trump administration officials announced amid a crackdown on immigrants accused of gang activity.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the arrest.
The 24-year-old was arrested in Dale City. Bondi described him as “one of the top leaders of MS-13” and “one of the top three for the entire country.”
No information was immediately released on charges against him, and his name was not released.
“Because of operational security, we won’t get into too many details about this individual,” Patel said.
Bondi said the man is from El Salvador, was living in the U.S. illegally and will be deported.
Youngkin spoke in support of the law enforcement operation and the arrests of undocumented immigrants.
“It’s time for us to recognize that Virginia is not a sanctuary state,” the governor said. “[…] We are working to get the bad guys out of here.”
NBC Washington is working to learn more. The Justice Department shared video of their announcement.
A Homeland Security task force made up of local, state and federal officials began an operation on March 3 to identify and arrest people who they say are violent gang members, Erik Siebert, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said at the announcement. So far, they have identified 575 targets and arrested 342, he said.
At the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt cited the arrest, calling it “a good day for our country.”
President Donald Trump has blamed violence and gang growth on lax immigration policies. In his first term as president, Trump promised an all-out fight against MS-13, saying he would “dismantle, decimate and eradicate” the gang.
Maryland woman says her husband was wrongly deported
As Trump officials deport people accused of having gang affiliations, some of their families say they were wrongly arrested.
A Maryland woman says her husband was picking up his kids in College Park earlier this month when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him. She spotted him on video inside a notorious Salvadoran prison and says he did nothing wrong.
“When they put him in the vehicle, they still took me to the vehicle and opened the door and told me to say goodbye to him,” the man’s wife said.
“He just told me to take care of my kids, and I told him everything is going to be fine,” she said. “You’re going to come back, because you haven’t done nothing. You have your work permit.”
The man’s lawyer said, “I have never heard of anything like this happening, and any other lawyer that I talked to is also, I mean, the reaction is just one of shock, because this really is just a flagrantly ignoring the law,” she said. “This is completely illegal by any stretch of the imagination.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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