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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on June 28, 2017 in an immigration roundtable discussion: \"We\'re pretty much at the 50 percent mark\" on deportations of MS-13 gang members. ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") * Immigration * National * Homeland Security * Crime * Donald Trump ![\\"Miriam](\\" By Miriam Valverde June 30, 2017 # Trump falsely claims his administration has deported half of MS-13 gang members President Donald Trump recently claimed that in the five months he’s been in office, his administration has deported about half of MS-13 gang members, one of the largest criminal organizations in the United States around since the 1980s. Trump singled out enforcement efforts against the MS-13 gang during an immigration roundtable discussion on two House bills written to withhold funds from jurisdictions that shield immigrants and to impose stricter penalties for criminal immigrants who re-enter the country. MS-13 gang members are \"bad people, and we\'ve gotten many of them out already. You know, we\'re pretty much at the 50 percent mark,\" Trump said June 28. \"We\'re getting them out as fast as we can get them out, and we\'re freeing up towns.\" Trump’s comment caught our attention since this is one of the most notorious gangs in the country. Is he halfway there in deporting thousands of MS-13 gang members? Not exactly. There’s an estimated 10,000 MS-13 gang members in the United States. The latest data shows immigration officials have deported 2,798 gang members in fiscal year 2017 — that’s members of all gangs and includes several months when former President Barack Obama was in office. MS-13 in the United States Trump’s June 28 remarks weren’t the first he’s made about MS-13 and his administration’s efforts against them. At a rally this month in Iowa, he told supporters his administration was \"moving them out of the country by the thousands.\" In April, he falsely tweeted that Obama’s policies allowed MS-13 to form across the United States, and again that his administration was removing them fast. But multiple experts told us there is no evidence Obama’s policies caused the gang’s growth in the country. MS-13 grew out of poor Los Angeles neighborhoods where many refugees from civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua lived in the 1980s. It’s grown into an international criminal organization with more than 30,000 members worldwide, the Justice Department said in an April 18, 2017, fact sheet. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" Laura Loomer stated on July 31, 2024 in an X post “Nowhere on her birth certificate does it say that she is BLACK OR AFRICAN. … Kamala Harris is NOT black and never has been.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • August 6, 2024 It’s difficult to peg down exactly how many MS-13 gang members there are in the United States. Trump’s Justice Department in April said there were more than 10,000 MS-13 gang members in the United States. FactCheck.org noted that for years the 10,000 figure has been a consistent estimate. MS-13 deportations under Trump We asked the White House for evidence backing Trump’s claim, but did not get an on-the-record response. A specific number of MS-13 gang members deported is not available because officials don’t track removals by specific gang, Dani Bennett, spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement previously told us. (The FBI says there’s around 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs criminally active in the U.S. and Puerto Rico — with an estimated 1.4 million members.) But ICE \"does specifically target MS-13 members for arrest and removal on the basis of their immigration violations,\" Bennett said, adding that deportations include foreign fugitives wanted for crimes committed abroad and who are removable under U.S. immigration law. So far in fiscal year 2017, ICE said it has removed 2,798 gang members. Even if all of them were MS-13 gang members, that would still be short of Trump’s claim that \"we\'re pretty much at the 50 percent mark\" — since the Justice Department in April said there’s an estimated 10,000 gang members in the country. Also, fiscal year 2017 started Oct. 1, 2016, when Obama was still in office. Our ruling Trump said, \"We\'re pretty much at the 50 percent mark\" on deportations of MS-13 gang members. Trump’s Justice Department has said there’s an estimated 10,000 MS-13 gang members in the United States. The latest available data from ICE shows 2,798 gang members have been removed in fiscal year 2017. But that includes members of all gangs, not just MS-13. Even if all were MS-13, that would not be half of the estimated 10,000 MS-13 gang members in the country. And fiscal year 2017 includes more than three months that Obama was in office. Trump’s statement is not accurate. We rate it False. Share the Facts 2017-06-30 18:49:22 UTC PolitiFact ![\\"PolitiFact\\"](\\" logo-big.jpg\\"/) 2 1 7 ![\\"PolitiFact](\\" false.jpg\\") PolitiFact Rating: False \"We\'re pretty much at the 50 percent mark\" on deportations of MS-13 gang members. Donald Trump President of the United States ![](\\" an immigration roundtable discussion Wednesday, June 28, 2017 2017-06-28 Read More info #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Justice Department, Fact Sheet on MS-13, released April 18, 2017 White House, Remarks by President Trump During Meeting with Immigration Crime Victims, June 28, 2017 Justice Department, Press release on Fifty-Six Ms-13 Members Indicted, Jan. 29, 2016 Email exchange, Dani Bennett, spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, June 22 and 29, 2017 Factcheck.org, More MS-13 Gang Nonsense, June 29, 2017 PolitiFact, Trump-O-Meter: Cancel all funding of sanctuary cities, last updated June 29, 2017 PolitiFact, Trump-O-Meter: Have mandatory minimum sentences for criminals caught trying to enter the United States illegally, last updated June 29, 2017 PolitiFact, Fact-checking 9 things Trump overstated, got wrong in his Cedar Rapids speech, June 22, 2017 PolitiFact, Trump falsely claims Obama policies to blame for growth of MS-13 gang in the U.S., April 18, 2017 FBI, Information on gangs, accessed June 30, 2017 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Miriam Valverde slide 4 to 6 of 15 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on April 19, 2021 in a speech: “If you look at some of these places that (reduced police funding), they’ve already seen crime go up.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • May 4, 2021 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on April 22, 2021 in an Instagram post: \"Mountains of data\" show drug ivermectin \"basically obliterates\" COVID-19 transmission. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • April 23, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on April 7, 2021 in a Facebook post: Says the nation is locked down and there’s “a wide open border.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • April 15, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Pramila Jayapal stated on August 30, 2021 in an Instagram post: “The average hospital stay for a case of COVID-19 costs about $17,064. 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We're pretty much at the 50 percent mark on deportations of MS13 gang members