Donald Trump lauded Immigration and Custom Enforcement for arresting almost two dozen MS-13 gang members in Los Angeles as part of a two year investigation, adding that the majority of those captured were in the country illegally.

Of the 22 MS-13 gang members captured this week, 19 were found to be illegal immigrants.

'Most of the MS-13 Gang members indicted & arrested in L.A. were illegal aliens, 19 of 22,' Trump tweeted Thursday. 'They are said to have killed many people in the most brutal fashion. They should never have been allowed in our Country for so long, 10 years.'

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that 19 of the 22 suspects arrested entered the U.S. illegally over the last four years.

President Donald Trump praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement for capturing 22 MS-13 members this week – 19 of which are are in the country illegally

Trump also lauded ICE for arresting and deporting thousands of gang members in general

Trump also praised ICE for deporting thousands of gang members over the years.

'We have arrested and deported thousands of gang members, in particular MS-13. ICE and Border Patrol are doing a great job!' he added in a duo of tweets.

The 22 men arrested are linked to several killings in the Los Angeles area – four were killed with machetes, baseball bats and knives in Angeles National Forest, and they murdered a homeless man earlier this year in North Hollywood and another in Malibu hills.

In the case with the machete, members lured someone thought to be part of a rival gang into the forest. After killing the victim, they dismembered his body and cut out his heart, then dumped the body in the canyon.

Assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, Paul Delacourt, said the gang members were motivated to carry out the killings to assert dominance in the area.

To drum up support for the border wall, increased border security and other immigration policies, Trump often invokes some of the horrific crimes carried out by MS-13.

Trump often pegs the issues at the border – and crime involving illegal immigrants – on gangs such as MS-13. Invoking their crimes to drum up support for harsher immigration policies

The final capture of the 22 members, which happened over the weekend, helps conclude a two year investigation into several brutal killings

MS-13 was formed in prisons in Los Angeles in the 1980s, primarily to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs.

The indictment against the 22, who are part of the so-called Fulton clique of MS-13, cites seven instances where they abducted victims to kill them – sometimes stabbing them or beating them to death with baseball bats.

The case 'centers on murders and medieval-style violence,' Delacourt said, adding that until this spree began, 'we haven't seen this level of violence associated with MS-13 in Southern California.'

Earlier this year, Trump declared a national emergency at the border after failing to secure funding for the border wall.

He said the humanitarian crisis can be attributed to human trafficking, drug smuggling and crime – much of which he attributes to gangs such as MS-13.