BRENTWOOD, NY - OCTOBER 29: (US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT AND NEWSWEEK OUT) Suffolk County Police officers from the anti-gang unit check for tattoos and identity papers of a possible gang member of Mara Salvatrucha 13 or MS-13, October 29, 2005 in Brentwood, New York. Many of the MS-13 members are in the U.S. illegally with false documents. The man being checked is from El Salvador and is not an MS-13 member. Mara Salvatrucha 13 started in the 1980's in Los Angeles, California during the 12-year civil war in El Salvador, when refugees fled north for safety and employment. Once Latino communities were infested with violent and gang related crime, Federal Immigration officials began deporting gang members back to their country of origin. In the last 12 years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported over 50,000 criminals and gang members to Central America. Deportation began to backfire and helped spread gang violence across Central America and back into other parts of the U.S. Newly organized cells in El Salvador have returned to establish strongholds in metropolitan Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities. Authorities say prisons in El Salvador have become nerve centers, where deported leaders from Los Angeles communicate with gang cliques across the United States. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
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Getty Images News Robert Nickelsberg