is MS-13 really such a big problem? (take note I'm not denying that the gang isn't bad, in case anyone wants to strawman me)
It's not. Trump has taken pains to overstate and inflate their actual size and influence in the US, and it's working in that his supporters now have those misconceptions
A majority of people who voted for President Donald Trump consider criminal gang MS-13 a threat to the United States, a new poll finds, indicating the Trump administration may be succeeding in inflating the perception of the gangs national risk.
Eighty-five percent of Trump voters say the gang, which is frequently invoked by the Trump administration as a reason to increase border security, is a very serious or somewhat serious threat to the United States as a whole, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov survey.
A fair share of Trump voters say they are worried about being personally affected by MS-13. About half indicated they are worried a great deal or somewhat that they or a family member will fall victim to MS-13 violence.
Among Hillary Clinton voters, only 32 percent consider MS-13 a very serious or somewhat serious threat to the country, and 13 percent are worried about the gangs violence affecting themselves or a family member.
MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, was started in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Members are primarily immigrants and descendants from El Salvador, and the group now has pockets around the country, including in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas.
The gang is less a sophisticated international organization than a collection of cliques engaging in violence, small-scale drug-dealing and other crimes. It has about 10,000 members nationwide, according to the Justice Department roughly the same as a decade ago.
The U.S. originally contributed to the problem by deporting gang members back to Central America, where gang activity flourished. Now, unaccompanied minors are coming to the United States fleeing that violence.
MS-13 doesnt appear to have deep financial resources for a much-publicized international criminal organization. In El Salvador, for example, anti-extortion raids of MS-13 and other gang members netted only $34,665 from 2012 to 2015, according to The New York Times.
The Trump administrations campaign against MS-13 is disproportionate with the actual threat, some law enforcement officials told the Times, and can overshadow other pressing issues, like the opioid epidemic.
In the U.S., MS-13 members commit violence that has garnered attention for its brutality. A federal grand jury recently indicted eight gang members in Dallas on charges that included machete attacks. But, as ProPublica noted, the gang tends to target a certain community, not the entire U.S. population. Its victims are largely immigrants, who themselves may be undocumented.