A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office told the Times that 19 of the 22 suspects illegally entered the country in the last four years.
Paul Delacourt, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said the killings were motivated by a desire to assert dominance in the Los Angeles area.
“We’re seeing an influx of younger gang members coming into the area associating themselves with the Fulton clique who are extremely violent, who have to commit murders to join the clique,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said, according to the Times.
Trump has frequently invoked the specter of gruesome crimes by the gang to drum up support for his immigration policies. The gang formed in U.S. prisons in the 1980s, later expanding its influence in Central America after large numbers were deported to El Salvador.
Original content can be located at THE HILL