MANASSAS, Va. (AP) — The alleged leader of the violent MS-13 street gang on the East Coast has been arrested in Virginia, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday.
Bondi lauded the early morning arrest of the 24-year-old man from El Salvador, who was described as one of MS-13’s top three leaders in the United States, as a major victory in the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on a gang known for brutal violence and extortion.
The Justice Department did not immediately release his name or detail the charges against him. Bondi said he was living in the U.S. illegally in northern Virginia, outside of Washington. It was unclear whether he was facing federal criminal charges or had been taken into custody by immigration officials.
The administration promoted the arrest as part of its effort to fulfill campaign promises to quash illegal immigration and eliminate gangs. MS-13 gang, or Mara Salvatrucha, was one of eight Latin American criminal organizations declared foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration last month.
In the past decade, the U.S. Justice Department has intensified its focus on MS-13, which originated as a neighborhood street gang in Los Angeles, but grew into a transnational gang based in El Salvador. It has members in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico and thousands of members across the U.S. with numerous branches, or “cliques.”
The 2016 killings of two high school girls, who were hacked and beaten to death as they walked through their neighborhood on New York’s Long Island, focused national attention on the gang. Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, friends and classmates at Brentwood High School, were killed with a machete and a baseball bat by a group of young men and teenage boys who had stalked them from a car. More killings followed in the coming months.
President Donald Trump has blamed the violence and gang growth on lax immigration policies. In his first term as president, Trump promised an all-out fight against MS-13, saying he would “dismantle, decimate and eradicate” the gang.
Leavitt is one of three Trump administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First and Fifth Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
North Dakota
Jury finds woman not guilty in the stabbing death of her roommate
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota jury on Wednesday found a woman not guilty of murder in the 2007 stabbing death of her roommate.
The jury in the Grand Forks trial deliberated for more than five hours before finding Nichole Rice not guilty in the death of Anita Knutson, the Minot Daily News reported. As the court clerk read the verdict aloud, Rice’s family and friends embraced, and Rice was in tears as the judge restored order to the courtroom.
Rice, now 37, had been charged with a felony murder in the death of Knutson, an 18-year-old student at Minot State University.
Knutson was found dead in the apartment she shared with Rice. Knutson’s body was face down in her bed with two stab wounds in the chest.
Investigators said Rice was a person of interest in connection with the murder, but was not arrested until March 2022 because there wasn’t enough evidence to justify an arrest.
New York
Federal workers targeted for DEI-related activities file class action complaint
NEW YORK (AP) — A group of federal employees targeted for dismissal because of their involvement in diversity, equity and inclusion activities has filed a class action complaint against the Trump administration.
The complaint alleges that the ongoing mass firings unlawfully target federal employees based on their perceived political views, infringe on their First Amendment rights and violate anti-discrimination laws by disproportionally affecting workers who are not white men.
The complaint was filed before the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent federal agency, by the American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward and two law firms. It was filed on behalf of Mahri Stainnak, a 16-year federal employee who was working at the Office of Personnel Management when they were dismissed as part of President Donald Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI programs from the federal government.
According to the complaint, Stainnak had been working as director of OPM’s Talent Innovation Group — a position that was not DEI-related — upon receiving a “Reduction In Force” notice citing Trump’s executive order. Stainnak had previously held the position of deputy director OPM’s Office of DEIA.
The complaint alleges the federal government is violating the “Reduction in Force” system by firing Stainnak and other employees for their past work or activities instead of eliminating actual roles related to DEI. In doing so, the complaint said the Trump administration’s orders “betrays their partisan political goals by targeting employees, not positions, for RIFs.”
Some employees were targeted for participating in employee resource groups or DEI trainings, rather than their current roles, the complaint said. It cites Trump’s past remarks calling DEI work part of “leftist ideology” and a “woke” political agenda as evidence that the government is for their “presumed political affiliation.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department, named as a defendant in the complaint, did not immediately reply to request for comment.
The complaint before the Merit System Protection Board, an independent federal agency, is a required step for exhausting administrative procedures before eventually filing a civil lawsuit in federal court, said Kelly Dermody of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein and Mary Kuntz of Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch PC, the attorneys representing the workers.
The complaint identifies three other federal employees, currently on administrative leave, who will be added to the complaint when their dismissals officially take effect next month. Dermody and Kuntz said the complaint will continue to be amended to add more federal workers as their dismissals take effect.
Dermody and Kuntz said their investigation and interviews with employees indicate that the firings disproportionally affected workers who are women, people of color and LGBTQ in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
The complaint demands that the government provide a list of employees who were placed on leave or fired because of the DEI executive order, along with their race and gender.
