Attorney General Pam Bondi says an alleged MS-13 gang leader arrested in Virginia has likely been in the U.S. for over ten years.
She revealed the info on "The Ingraham Angle" after 24-year-old Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos was taken into custody. Santos is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.
"We believe he was recruited in middle school — in middle school!" Bondi said.
She said Santos had been living illegally with friends and family. “The Biden administration did absolutely nothing to deport these people,” she added. “We didn’t need new laws, we needed a new president to fix this.”
Santos was arrested on an outstanding warrant. During a home search, authorities also found him in possession of illegal firearms.
Bondi told Laura Ingraham that multiple agencies worked together to catch him. DEA, FBI, U.S. Marshals, and ICE shared data and coordinated the effort.
"He was one of the top leaders, and he was living half an hour from where we're sitting right now,” Bondi said. “We took one of the worst of the worst off the streets today. Americans are safer because of Donald Trump.”
Inmates remain locked inside El Salvador’s mega-prison, where hundreds of MS-13 and 18 Street gang members are held. That’s where officials hope Santos will end up.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin applauded law enforcement for their role. He stood next to FBI Director Kash Patel and praised efforts to “eradicate the drug and terrorist networks that exist.”
MS-13 was officially labeled a foreign terrorist group by the State Department in February. The Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua were also named.
Santos’ arrest is part of the Trump administration’s push to deport criminal migrants.
Meanwhile, in Venezuela, deported migrants were seen arriving after being flown out by the U.S.
The White House is fighting a court ruling that paused deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
Bondi said the DOJ wants Santos sent to El Salvador’s mega-prison. She says he’s among MS-13’s top three leaders.
"Let's send him home. That's where he belongs," Bondi said. “He belongs back in that El Salvador prison, and that’s where he should go, but we’re going to — you’re going to see a lot more charges on him.”