MS-13

MS-13 is a transnational criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles among Salvadoran immigrants and operates in parts of the Americas. Its decentralized cliques engage in violence, extortion, and other crimes.

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Salvadoran Civil War: A 1979–1992 armed conflict between El Salvador’s government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front. The war drove Salvadoran migration to Los Angeles, where MS-13 emerged among immigrant youth.
Street gang: A group whose members identify with a neighborhood or shared identity and engage in street-level activity, often including crime. MS-13 is organized as a gang rather than a centralized cartel.
Gang injunction: A court order restricting specified people from engaging in defined activities within a designated area. Authorities have used injunctions against MS-13 and other gangs to restrict public activity.
Northern Triangle of Central America: The Central American region comprising El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. MS-13 has operated in all three countries, though its reach and influence vary by place.
Salvadoran diaspora: Communities of Salvadoran people living outside El Salvador, including large populations in the United States. Migration from El Salvador shaped the community setting in which the gang first formed.
Gang clique: A local subgroup within a larger gang, often operating with substantial independence. MS-13’s cliques carry out local activity with limited centralized coordination.
Gang suppression: Law-enforcement strategies that seek to reduce gang activity through surveillance, arrests, and prosecution. Suppression policies have been a prominent response to MS-13 in the United States and Central America.
Forced displacement: Movement from one’s home under coercion or threat, including violence or persecution. Threats and violence attributed to gangs, including MS-13, have driven some people from their homes.
Los Angeles: A major city in Southern California and the second-most populous city in the United States. MS-13 formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
Gang recruitment: The process by which gangs attract and incorporate new members. Recruitment sustains MS-13 cliques and can target socially vulnerable young people.