Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a task force Monday dedicated to bringing to heel designated transnational criminal organizations such as MS-13, Hezbollah and three drug cartels.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will head the task force, which will have a subcommittee for each of the five notorious groups: the El Salvador-based street gang known as MS-13, the terrorist organization Lebanese Hezbollah, and international drug cartels Clan del Golfo, the Sinaloa Cartel, and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion.
“Transnational criminal organizations — whether they are gangs, drug trafficking cartels or terrorist groups — are a scourge,” Mr. Rosenstein said in a rare joint appearance alongside the attorney general. “They sow violence and sell poisonous drugs. They bribe public officials and fuel corruption. They terrorize law-abiding citizens.”
Mr. Sessions told reporters that the task force was born of President Trump’s executive order to dismantle transnational criminal orders. The attorney general said the Justice Department has followed through on the president’s demand and added that the department has “hammered” MS-13 since the early days of the administration.
“Taking on … the cartels is a priority for this president and for his administration,” Mr. Sessions said. – READ MORE