Transnational Gangs in America - Essay Example

?Executive summary Transnational gangs are termed as gangs that are formed in one country but do their illicit businesses in more than one country. These gangs are known to use illicit activities and corruption in the countries they operate in order to achieve their goals. Gangs in operating in several countries are associated with money laundering, human trafficking, drugs and the key driver of the emergence of such gangs is getting rid of poverty. Transnational gangs started having influence after the El Salvador civil war in the 1990s (National Institute of Justice, 2013). Transnational gangs in America are mostly in what is known as the northern triangle; El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The United States and Mexico have a hand in the continuation of transnational gangs influence through their immigration policies (Johnson, 2006). The American government and other governments in the Americas have been trying to get rid of the transnational gangs, but has become a challenge with the improvement and sophistication of technology. This report will analyse transnational gangs in America, their emergence, factors of emergence, the role of government in their expansion and influence, the role of technology, and what the governments are doing to combat the gangs. Word Count, 1626. Contents Executive summary 1 Contents 1 Introduction 2 History of Transnational Gangs in America 3 Characteristics of transnational gangs 4 Role of United States Foreign Policy 5 Current Intervention Measures 7 Conclusion 9 Bibliography 10 Barkan, E.,(2012). Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration. Santa Barbra: ABC-CLIO Publishers. 10 Diaz, T.,(2008). No Boundaries: Transnational Latino Gangs and American Law Enforcement. Detroit: University of Michigan Press. 10 DeLugan, R., (2012). Reimagining National Belonging: Post-Civil War El Salvador in a Global Context. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 11 Finckenauer, J.,(2007). Effectively Combating Transnational Organized Crime. National Institute of Justice. [online] Available at: < http://www.nij.gov/nij/topics/crime/transnational-organized-crime/effective-practices.htm> [Accessed 5 October 2013]. 11 Garland, S., (2009). Gangs in Garden City: How Immigration, Segregation, and Youth Violence Are Changing America's Suburbs. New York: Nation Books. 11 Odem, M and Lacy, E.,(2009). Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S. South. Athens: University of Georgia Press. 12 Prowse, C., (2012). Defining Street Gangs in the 21st Century: Fluid, Mobile, and Transnational Networks. Berlin: Springer. 12 Ruiz, V and Korrol, V.,(2006). Latinas in the United States, set: A Historical Encyclopedia. St. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 12 White, R., (2013). Youth Gangs, Violence and Social Respect: Exploring the Nature of Provocations and Punch-Ups. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 13 Zilberg, E., (2011). Space of Detention: The Making of a Transnational Gang Crisis between Los Angeles and San Salvador. Durham: Duke University Press.. 13 Introduction Transnational gangs in America are a form of organized crime operating in more than one country. There are leaders who rule the gangs, and their main objective is to make money (National Institute of Justice, 2013). Though they were quite a number of transnational gangs, the influence of transnational gangs in America was realized after the El Salvador civil war in the 1980s (National Institute of Justice, 2013). United States and other countries in America, in a quest to help the affected allowed them to relocate to these countries. Some El Salvadorans formed gangs, which are claimed to operate from Los Angeles. Transnational gangs have a lot of influence. The current improvement and development of new technology has made them even stronger. Governments have been trying their best to control these gangs, but they have proved to be too smart and elusive for them. Corruption of government officials could be the main reason why they are becoming powerful as time unwinds. American governments have been trying to combat the gangs but in vain. Transnational gangs’ popularity and influence is a challenge, to combat them despite the ingenious strategies from experts in the governments. History of Transnational Gangs in America In the 1980s, a civil war started in El Salvador and completely changed the nature of transnational crime. Many people relocated from El Salvador to the United States, to run away from the war. Most people were traumatized by the actions taking place in their homes. When they moved to America, they decided to come together to protect each other from Mexican gangs by forming their own gangs (Anon, 2012). As such, experts point out that these gangs have been making Americans to live in fear were, in fact, born in the United States. Their main work is to terrorize people, traffic people and engage in illicit activities, including pornography (Blue, 2006). In fact, there are reasons to believe that some gangs are collaborating with drug cartels. Maloof (2012) claims that the notorious MS13 gang merged with a drug cartel to perpetrate its illicit activities. One thing about the Gangs is that they do not follow the law and order at all (Diaz, 2009). People from El Salvador were relatively fewer compared to Mexicans living in Los Angeles. Therefore, people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras came together, to form one gang to protect themselves from Mexican gangs. This led to the formation of a gang that had roots in the three countries. To survive, the gangs had to engage in illegal activities. The gangs were admired by many people, especially the youth who want to feel a sense of protection and power. The transnational gangs in the United States alone have more than 10,000 members spread across the United States (Prowse, 2012). Characteristics of transnational gangs Multi-country: Transnational gangs in America have been determined to operate in at least five countries. In most cases, they have contact people in these countries, whose main responsibility is to recruit new youths to the gangs, send and receive illegal goods as well as command the gang members in those countries (White, 2013). Adaptive: Transnational gang members are ever on the move to gain influence in different parts and to run away from the long arm of the law. They have developed special mechanisms to get to other areas and adapt like locals within a very short time. At the same time, they are able to interact with people in those areas very fast (White, 2013). Sophisticated: Transnational gangs are so sophisticated that even powerful country governments like the United States do not understand them. They are able to do their illicit activities across the borders even with high security and scrutiny when crossing some borders, like of the United States from Mexico. They pass illegal immigrants, drugs and human trafficking subjects across these very borders. Governments keep wondering what it is in them (Zilberg, 2011). Role of United States Foreign Policy As much as the United States government is fully committed to eradicate transnational criminal gangs across America, experts claim that it is one of the influences of the same. According to the United States Migration Policy Institute, the number of El Salvadorans migrating to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s was about one percent of the population only (Gammage, 2007). However, during the civil war, the number rose a little. At the same time, Salvadorans applied for asylum in the United States. United States department of immigration processed just about two percent of the asylum applications (Gammage, 2007). This was faced with a lot of controversy and criticism from the Human Rights organizations, Civil rights movement and the churches. They were of the proposal that El Salvador was at war and the people of that country needed refuge in countries like the United States. A fierce court battle emerged, and the organizations won. The United States government had no option but to process more asylum applications for El Salvadorans. The number of asylum applications processed rose to 25 percent by 1993 (Gammage, 2007). The number has been rising significantly year after year even with the knowledge that there were Salvadorian gangs in the United States (Gammage, 2007). Figure 1: Table obtained from the Migration Policy Institute showing the location where El: Salvadorans are concentrated in the United States. The number of El Salvadorans in the United States has increased dramatically to over one million by the year2008. According to data by the Migration Policy Institute, large populations of El Salvadorans in Los Angles, Texas, Florida, New York and a few populations spread across other regions in the United States (Terrazas, 2010). At the same time, rumours started emerging that there were illegal immigrants from El Salvador and other transnational gangs’ countries of interest. Though the information cannot be authenticated, the United States Migration Policy Institute claims that there are as many as 400,000 Salvadorans living in the United States illegally (Graglia, 2010). It is though that the transnational criminal gangs could have an influence. The number of undocumented immigrants from El Salvador represented about 6% (Graglia, 2010). Guatemala and Honduras represent five and two percent of all undocumented immigrants in the United States (Garcia, 2013). Currently, El Salvador has the sixth largest immigrant population in the United States. Statistics indicate that one in every five Salvadorans live in the United States (Graglia, 2010). El Salvador has one of the highest crime rates in the United States as statistics from the Department of Homeland Security indicates in the table below (Department of Home land Security, 2003). Figure 2: Source: The United States Department of Home Affairs. Current Intervention Measures The American government is one of the leading in trying to control the transnational gangs. The police usually do crackdowns in places believed to harbour gang members. One of the policies the United States use is to deport people believed to be criminals or transnational gang members (Johnson, 2006). The most affected people are from Central America as figure 3 indicates. Figure 3: Source: The United States Department of Home Affairs. The United States government also formed a task force to investigate the transnational gangs. The task force is headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and headquartered at the FBI headquarters (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2013). A number of experts are on the task force to gather as much information on gangs as much as possible (Larence, 2011). Heightened awareness of the effects of gangs on the society and the economy is also done by the task force. People are encouraged to report any suspicion on gang activities within their regions. Police and other institutions are always ready to act on such issues. At the same time, the government has embarked on improving communication and sharing of intelligence on the gangs. This makes it easy to act on the issues related to gangs (Finckenauer, 2007). Conclusion Transnational gangs are becoming more influential in the Americas. What started as help to the vulnerable people in El Salvador during the civil war emanated a ruthless, careless and killer gangs. Its influence is becoming more noticeable and although the governments have been trying to combat it, the gangs seem to be always a step ahead of the government. The governments should ensure they gather enough information on the gangs as much as possible to combat them effectively. Bibliography Anonymous., (2012). Gangs in Central America. [Online] Available at: http://www.marocmun.com/Research%20Packets%202012/Security%20Council_Gangs%20in%20Latin%20America.pdf [Accessed 15 October 2013]. Barkan, E.,(2012). Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration. Santa Barbra: ABC-CLIO Publishers. Blue, J., (2006). Gangs without borders / Violent Central American gangs were born in the USA, returned to their homeland and now migrate back and forth between here and there. [online] SF Gate. Available at: [Accessed 10 October 2013]. Diaz, T.,(2008). No Boundaries: Transnational Latino Gangs and American Law Enforcement. Detroit: University of Michigan Press. DeLugan, R., (2012). Reimagining National Belonging: Post-Civil War El Salvador in a Global Context. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Department of Homeland Security, (2003). Criminals Deported from Central America. [online]Department of homeland security. Available at: [Accessed 16 October 2013]. Federal Bureau of Investigations, (2013). MS-13 National Gang Task Force. [online] Federal Bureau of Investigations. Available at: [Accessed 18 October 2013]. Finckenauer, J.,(2007). Effectively Combating Transnational Organized Crime. National Institute of Justice. [online] Available at: < http://www.nij.gov/nij/topics/crime/transnational-organized-crime/effective-practices.htm> [Accessed 5 October 2013]. Gammage, S.,(2007). El Salvador: Despite End to Civil War, Emigration Continues. [online] Migration Policy Institute. Available at: [Accessed 18 October 2013]. Garcia, A.,(2013). The Facts on Immigration Today. [online] Center for American Progress. Available: [Accessed 9 October 2013]. Garland, S., (2009). Gangs in Garden City: How Immigration, Segregation, and Youth Violence Are Changing America's Suburbs. New York: Nation Books. Graglia, D.,(2010). Salvadorans Become Sixth Largest Immigrant Group in the U.S., Says New Report. [online] Available at: [Accessed 15 October 2013]. Jackson, M.,(2006). National Policies and the Rise of Transnational Gangs. [online] Migration Policy Institute. Available at: [Accessed 2 October 2013]. Larence, E., (2011). Combating Gangs: Federal Agencies Have Implemented a Central American Gang Strategy, But Could Strengthen Oversight and Measurement of Efforts. Darby: DIANE publishing. Maloof, M., (2012). Transnational gang' merges with drug cartel: Already into extortion, beheading, sex trafficking, human smuggling, child prostitution. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 October 2013]. National Institute of Justice., (2013). Transnational Organized Crime. [online] National Institute of Justice Available at: < http://www.nij.gov/nij/topics/crime/transnational-organized-crime/welcome.htm> [Accessed 18 October 2013]. Odem, M and Lacy, E.,(2009). Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S. South. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Prowse, C., (2012). Defining Street Gangs in the 21st Century: Fluid, Mobile, and Transnational Networks. Berlin: Springer. Ruiz, V and Korrol, V.,(2006). Latinas in the United States, set: A Historical Encyclopedia. St. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Terrazas, A.,(2010). Salvadoran Immigrants in the United States. [Online] Migration Policy Institute. Available at: [Accessed 17 October 2013]. White, R., (2013). Youth Gangs, Violence and Social Respect: Exploring the Nature of Provocations and Punch-Ups. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Zilberg, E., (2011). Space of Detention: The Making of a Transnational Gang Crisis between Los Angeles and San Salvador. Durham: Duke University Press.. Read More