Federal law enforcement officials announced the arrest of a “high-ranking” MS-13 gang leader who wielded international influence just minutes away from Washington, D.C.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Thursday arrested David Alejandro Orellana-Aleman, a 27-year-old Salvadoran national living unlawfully in the United States, according to a press release by the agency. Orellana-Aleman is accused of being a high-ranking member of the MS-13 crime syndicate who controlled operations of the gang’s cliques throughout the U.S., Mexico and Europe.
The apprehension, which was done in coordination with the FBI, took place in Hyattsville, Maryland, a suburb roughly six miles away from Washington, D.C., according to ICE. Federal law enforcement is hailing the arrest as a major victory for the administration’s war against organized crime.
“The apprehension of David Alejandro Orellana-Aleman strikes a significant blow to the leadership and organization of the MS-13 terrorist organization,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Field office director Matthew Elliston stated. “This arrest speaks volumes about the cooperation enjoyed between ICE and the FBI.”
“We will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing illegal alien offenders from our communities,” Elliston continued.
Salvadoran authorities arrested Orellana-Aleman in December 2016 on charges of terrorist affiliation as a documented MS-13 member, extortion and possession of a firearm, according to ICE. At some point after his arrest, the gang leader left El Salvador and illegally entered the U.S. on an unknown date and location without inspection by an immigration official.
Orellana-Aleman was later arrested by the Prince George’s County Police on Dec. 9 and charged with driving without a license, according to the agency. Following his Thursday apprehension by federal agents, he now remains in ICE custody.
“Maryland is immediately safer because of this arrest,” FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno stated in a press release. “Working together, we took custody of one of the highest-ranking gang members in the United States.”
“David Alejandro Orellana-Aleman is no longer in his alleged position of power directing violence,” DelBango continued. “His arrest demonstrates the success we can have when we collectively investigate and disrupt violent criminals seeking to exploit our communities.”
Beginning as a local Los Angeles street gang in the 1980s, MS-13 has since swelled into an international criminal syndicate behind illicit activity in the U.S., its spiritual home of El Salvador and elsewhere. Members of the ruthless gang have been indicted for murder, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal immigration and an array of other criminal activity over the decades.
The arrest marks the latest win in the Trump administration’s ambitious goal to arrest and deport criminal illegal migrants en masse. Border czar Tom Homan, who’s leading the White House’s deportation operation, has repeatedly said the administration is following a “worst first” policy, targeting the most heinous criminal illegal migrants first.
President Donald Trump entered office in late January and immediately got to work revamping the immigration enforcement system. The administration took the handcuffs off ICE agents by removing so-called “sensitive locations,” allowing deportation officers to make enforcement actions virtually anywhere across the country, and marshaled agents from nearly every other law enforcement agency to assist immigration enforcement, including the FBI.
The reforms have proven successful, with the administration in February celebrating the arrest of more than 20,000 illegal migrants during Trump’s first month in office. The apprehensions marked a 627% increase in monthly arrests compared to the roughly 33,000 at-large arrests made during President Joe Biden’s last year in the White House.
The president of Orellana-Aleman’s home country, Nayib Bukele, has established himself as a major international partner in Trump’s deportation efforts. During a February visit by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Salvadoran president not only agreed to take back his own country’s deportees, but also offered his “mega-prison” to house MS-13 members, Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gangbangers and any other criminal from around the world — including U.S. citizens.
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