Good morning. Thank you for being here. We have been out since about 4:30 this morning. The great men and women of law enforcement have been working on this operation for days and days and probably weeks. This morning, early this morning, one of the top leaders of MS-13 was apprehended. He was the leader for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country. Right here in Virginia living half an hour outside of Washington DC, he is an illegal alien from El Salvador. And he will not be living in our country much longer. He's in custody this morning, one of the top leaders right here near our nation's capital.
Top MS-13 member arrested in Virginia was ‘leader for the East Coast,’ AG Bondi says
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Updated: 9:48 AM CDT Mar 27, 2025
Federal law enforcement officers captured an alleged “major leader” of the MS-13 gang Thursday morning, President Donald Trump said on social media.“Just captured a major leader of MS13,” he wrote. The alleged 24-year-old gang member, who was arrested in Prince William County, has not yet been publicly named and is expected to face charges in the Eastern District of Virginia.Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was present for the raid along with FBI Director Kash Patel, said in a news conference that the man was “the leader for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country, right here in Virginia, living half an hour outside of Washington, D.C.”“He is an illegal alien from El Salvador, and he will not be living in our country much longer,” Bondi said.The arrest was executed by a new interagency task force established by the Trump administration to target transnational organized crime and coordinate ongoing immigration enforcement efforts across Virginia. Its creation was part of a crackdown by the Trump administration on foreign gang members residing in the United States.While officials did not explicitly say whether the man will be deported, the administration is working to pay El Salvador to imprison immigrants that it said have committed crimes and have been expelled from the U.S. MS-13 deportations, particularly of leaders, who are a priority for Salvadoran officials, and Trump officials agreed, CNN has previously reported.One such effort included the deporting César Humberto López-Larios, an alleged top leader of the MS-13 who U.S. investigators believe has information that could implicate top Salvadoran government officials in possibly corrupt deals with the violent gang. The Justice Department quietly dropped charges against López-Larios and returned him to El Salvador earlier this month.
WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement officers captured an alleged “major leader” of the MS-13 gang Thursday morning, President Donald Trump said on social media.
“Just captured a major leader of MS13,” . The alleged 24-year-old gang member, who was arrested in Prince William County, has not yet been publicly named and is expected to face charges in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was present for the raid along with FBI Director Kash Patel, said in a news conference that the man was “the leader for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country, right here in Virginia, living half an hour outside of Washington, D.C.”
“He is an illegal alien from El Salvador, and he will not be living in our country much longer,” Bondi said.
The arrest was executed by a new established by the Trump administration to target transnational organized crime and coordinate ongoing immigration enforcement efforts across Virginia. Its creation was part of a crackdown by the Trump administration on foreign gang members residing in the United States.
While officials did not explicitly say whether the man will be deported, the administration is working to pay El Salvador to imprison immigrants that it said have committed crimes and have been expelled from the U.S. MS-13 deportations, particularly of leaders, who are a priority for Salvadoran officials, and Trump officials agreed, CNN has .
One such effort included the deporting César Humberto López-Larios, an alleged top leader of the MS-13 who U.S. investigators believe has information that could implicate top Salvadoran government officials in possibly corrupt deals with the violent gang. The Justice Department quietly dropped charges against López-Larios and returned him to El Salvador earlier this month.
