MS-13 Gang Members Avoid Death Penalty in the U.S.

"I'm leaving the federal courthouse downtown, and I just saw 13 MS-13 gang members from El Salvador who have killed about 20 people. And one of the lawyers told me that both of them ate the heart of one of their victims. Charming, charming.

It's so strange. Everyone gets due process, even though I think: thank God the judge didn’t grant their lawyers’ motions at all. It was terrifying to see them come out in shackles. Frightening, frightening.

And the judge explained to me that this case has been ongoing since 2019, so there's no death penalty for these guys, so they will be sentenced. Unfortunately, taxpayers will be paying for them to live in the jails here.

If they were sent to El Salvador, I guess they would just go free, so that's why they’re not doing that."

In El Salvador, current laws consider members of the MS-13 gang as terrorists, due to their extreme violence, territorial control, and criminal activities. This classification was reinforced during the state of emergency implemented by President Nayib Bukele’s government in 2022 as part of his war against gangs.

Being a member of MS-13 is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, and those captured are sent directly to CECOT (Center for Terrorism Confinement), a maximum-security mega-prison built specifically to house these prisoners. It is important to mention that if someone is deported from the United States and is part of MS-13, they will be sent directly to CECOT. In this center, gang members serve their sentences under strict conditions, with heavy surveillance, no contact with the outside world, and no possibility of criminal reorganization from within.

This approach has been key in the drastic reduction of homicide and crime rates in the country, although it has also generated criticism from organizations that defend the human rights of terrorists, while ignoring the human rights of the victims.