The blood-thirsty cartel known as MS-13. MS-13. MS-13. Tonight I am calling on Congress to finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminal gangs to break into our country. What is MS-13, and why does the president keep bringing it up? It’s one of the most notorious and brutal street gangs in the Western hemisphere. Since President Trump has come into office, he’s used MS-13 to try and justify hardline immigration policies, like increasing deportations and constructing a border wall. But the truth is: The gang he’s trying to root out was born right here in the United States. It started on the streets of Los Angeles. Here’s how: In the 1980s, Salvadoran refugees escaping the civil war came to the U.S. and settled in Southern California. Many families ended up living in neighborhoods that were dominated by Mexican gangs. So in an effort to fight back, young Salvadoran men, most of them teenagers, started their own gang. They called themselves the Mara Salvatrucha, which roughly translates to Salvadoran street posse. And in the beginning, they were just that. But over time, fighting intensified and became more widespread. The gang attracted other marginalized Latino communities in the U.S., like Guatemalans and Hondurans. MS-13 members got involved in drug dealing and turned violence into their trademark. Some gang members were teenage veterans of the Salvadoran civil war, already hardened by the fighting they had witnessed, and in some cases been a part of, back home. The myth of being worshippers of Satan made them even more intimidating. In the 1990s, the U.S. started to deport immigrants who were convicted of crimes. This included members of MS-13. In El Salvador and other Central American countries with few support systems, they found new ground to expand the Mara Salvatrucha into an international network. By then, the gang had come to a truce with the Mexicans and identified itself as MS-13. The number is in reference to the 13th letter in the alphabet, which is M, and a nod to their respect for the Mexican mob. The gang also spread organically in the U.S. by targeting young boys from vulnerable areas. It is true that gang members who have been deported continued coming back to the U.S. But the group caused even more violence in El Salvador and other Central American countries. There is an estimated 10,000 members currently in the U.S. In local areas where MS-13 gang members are known to be concentrated like Long Island and the Washington D.C. metro area, law enforcement officials say the organization poses a significant threat. But the same officials say that, on a national scale, the threat is relatively low. That’s if you compared it with other national security issues, like drug cartels and terrorist organizations. It’s unclear whether Trump’s focus on cracking down on MS-13 will significantly make Americans safer.