U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley sent a scathing letter to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding more transparency with the Mara Salvatrucha of MS-13, the gang notorious for their murders, human smuggling, and other heinous crimes on an international level.
MS-13 became headline news during the 2016 presidential elections, where many Republicans pointed towards the group as a reason to support border security.
The letter written this past week by Grassley Rasks for more updates regarding the operations of Joint Task Force Vulcan’s (JFTV) mission to curb and combat the crime organization.
“…collaborative and comprehensive law enforcement partnerships like Joint Task Force Vulcan are more important than ever before. However, the DOJ’s lack of public updates on JTFV leaves Congress and the American people with questions, including whether Task Force Vulcan still exists. This is especially frustrating considering that more and more Americans than ever are searching for a sense of safety and security amidst the recent spike in violent crime,” Grassley wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The lack of transparency does not make Grassley content, for an uptick of violent crime across the United States and the unrecognized crisis at the Border are issues not being taken seriously by the Biden Administration.
“From 2017 to 2020, US Customs and Border Protection found or arrested over 3 million people, averaging about 750,000 people a year. In that same time period, Border Patrol apprehended an average of 294 MS-13 gang-members a year,” noted the Senator in his remakrs on the floor.
Customs and Border Protection officials have been unable to detain and arrest as many MS-13 gang members compared in years past, according to Grassley.
Recent data published by the Department Of Justice since 2016,” the Department has prosecuted approximately 749 MS-13 gang members. So far, more than 500 of these MS-13 gang members have been convicted, including 37 who received life sentences.”
These past months, other Iowa Republicans such as Representative Randy Feenstra, Rep. Ashley Hinson, and Rep.Mariannette Miller-Meeks have condemned the Biden Administration’s lack of action at the Border.
