Over the weekend, CNN host Ana Cabrera did something one doesn't see often her network -- the CNN weekend anchor actually devoted a full report to the dangers of the MS-13 gang in the United States, noting that it has taken advantage of the influx of unaccompanied minors into the U.S. and pressures them into joining.
At 3:27 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Cabrera's pre-recorded piece began with the story of two girls in a Salvadorian neighborhood in New York who were beaten to death by MS-13 gang members. She then noted that the international gang has about 10,000 members in the U.S., including 1,000 on Long Island.
She soon recounted:
They started to see an uptick in gang violence in 2015. According to intelligence, that's when leaders of MS-13 in El Salvador made a concerted effort to grow and establish new branches of the gang in different pockets of the U.S., including the affluent suburbs of New York City and Long Island.
After Cabrera recalled, "Since 2014, the U.S. government has placed more than 9,000 unaccompanied minors -- undocumented children and teenagers who have crossed into the U.S. without parents or guardians -- with sponsors in Long Island communities," Suffolk County district attorney Timothy Sini was seen informing viewers that MS-13 pressures such minors without parents to join by making threats against them.
Both Sini and Evelyn Rodriguez -- the mother of an MS-13 victim -- gave President Donald Trump credit for bringing attention to the problem, although Sini also had concerns that the Salvadorian community was being alienated by the President's "rhetoric." Cabera then spoke live with a guest who is a former MS-13 member who is now an activist against the gang.
In all, the segment devoted 11 minutes to the subject, and was also rerun on Sunday while Fredricka Whitfield was hosting.
