New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is sending the State Police into Suffolk County to combat the MS-13 gang.
As part of a joint task force with the FBI and the Suffolk County Police, 25 state troopers will patrol the streets of Brentwood and Central Islip.
Cuomo called the gang an international criminal organization.
“MS-13 are thugs. That’s what they are. They are thugs. They are thugs who prey on young people, and recruit young people.”
In addition to the manpower, the state will also provide technical tools to help in the fight against the gang.
On Friday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will visit Central Islip to talk about the violence.
President Trump last week tweeted that Sessions was doing “a fantastic job” by announcing “new steps to dismantle violent gangs like MS-13.” Trump blamed what he called the “weak illegal immigration policies of the Obama administration” that allowed MS-13 gangs to form in U.S. cities.
Sessions has said that MS-13 could be labeled as a terrorist organization, and Trump has said that his proposed border wall will help stop the gang from recruiting new members. MS-13 first appeared in the United States in the 1980s.
