MS-13 suspect charged with assaulting deportation officer

A suspected member of the MS-13 gang has been indicted on a charge of assaulting a deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment Wednesday against Cristian Alexander Saravia Gamez of El Salvador in the alleged assault on the officer, which took place on May 2. The indictment identifies the officer by the initials R.O. and gives no detail of the injuries. ICE declined to provide details Friday.

Saravia’s indictment comes the same week that the Justice Department announced the indictment of eight other MS-13 suspects in an unrelated racketeering case in North Texas. The Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 is a transnational gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador, and the group is blamed for much of the violence in Central America that has sent many people seeking asylum in the United States. Branches of MS-13 gang cliques operate in some U.S. cities.

Other court records said Saravia was found May 2 by officers with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations at a business in the 7100 block of FM 1346 in East Bexar County. The officers were targeting for arrest immigrants with gang ties. When officers moved in to question and arrest him, Saravia struggled with officers, according to a criminal complaint affidavit.

The affidavit said Saravia had been deported Nov. 24, 2015, to El Salvador and returned to the United States without permission. He was charged with illegal re-entry for that offense and was sentenced to a month of time served, though he now faces more time for the assault case. Saravia is being held at an immigration jail in Pearsall and is scheduled for an initial federal court hearing on July 25 in San Antonio.

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland