President Donald Trump plans to visit Long Island, NY, today, to talk about border security and a familiar bane for Texas law enforcement: transnational gangs like MS-13.

The visit comes as the White House makes a renewed push to increase border security funding, and just days after Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo spoke of the threat posed by the gang, calling MS-13 "the worst of the worst" in an interview with National Public Radio Wednesday.

MS-13, or "La Mara Salvatrucha," was formed in California in the 1980s. The gang spread throughout Central America and the U.S. and is infamous for the grisly murders and wholesale violence its members commit.

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It is the only street gang federal authorities have labeled a transnational criminal organization. In Houston, which is home to approximately 20,000 gang members (from organizations like MS-13 and Tango Blast to small local cliques) the gang has been a frequent bane for local law enforcement, racking up some of the area's most gruesome murders.

MS-13 gang members were convicted for murdering a 14-year-old boy here in 2014 who wanted to go to church instead of associating with the gang.

They were also charged with killing a girl earlier this year in a Satanic sacrifice. And earlier this week, two MS-13 gang members landed on the Texas Department of Public Safety's list of most wanted fugitives.

Trump made border security one of his priorities - promising a coast-to-coast border wall, which he would make Mexico pay for.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions has directed his department's law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors across the country to prioritize prosecutions of transnational gangmembers, as directed by an executive order Trump signed in February, among other measures.

Here's what the Washington Post reported earlier today:

In a speech this week in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump referred to violent gang members as "animals" who terrorize their communities, including other immigrants. "We are throwing MS-13 the hell out of here so fast," Trump said. "You know, we're actually — hard to believe that we're talking about our great country. We are actually liberating towns and cities. We are liberating — people are screaming from their windows, 'Thank you,' thank you to the Border Patrol and to [Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly's] great people that come in and grab the thugs and throw them the hell out.'"

The Associated Press reported that the Department of Homeland Security's investigative unit has arrested 3,311 gang members across the country in a number of targeted operations. The agency could not provide numbers for a similar timeframe in 2016.

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But an investigation by the Washington Post found that MS-13's presence has grown sharply in recent years in Houston and other parts of the country.

File/Texas Department of Public Safety

While Trump's tough talk and immigration crackdown has cheered conservatives, others say that his recent actions are only emboldening MS-13.

One immigration advocate told CNN today that increasing immigration enforcement action makes undocumented immigrants more fearful of arrest and deportation and less likely to cooperate with authorities, ultimately helping MS-13.

"This situation is actually putting people who are very vulnerable in a more precarious situation because then they remain at the mercy of gangs,"said Walter Barrientos, Long Island coordinator with Make the Road.

The international spotlight that President Donald Trump focused Friday onto the brutal MS-13 gang highlights a problem that Houston-area law enforcement have been battling for years. The gang — known for wielding machetes and practicing Satanic rituals — has left a trail of bodies and mayhem across Harris County, the U.S. and Central America as its violence and influence have spread throughout the region in the past decades.