ICE Arrests Two MS-13 ‘Ringleaders’

The Department of Homeland Security has arrested two MS-13 gang leaders wanted in El Salvador for violent crimes that include murder, drug trafficking, and gang conspiracy.

One of these gang leaders, The Daily Wire can exclusively report, is Rene Escobar-Ochoa, arrested on July 9 during a coordinated enforcement operation in Omaha, Nebraska. Though U.S. Border Patrol encountered him as far back as 2023, he was allowed to remain in the country under President Joe Biden’s administration, DHS shared.

Escobar-Ochoa faces an “INTERPOL Red Notice” from El Salvador for conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking, DHS said.

The second gang member, who is a Salvadoran national, is not named by ICE but is on El Salvador’s 100 Most Wanted Fugitives list, according to DHS. Fox News first reported his arrest on Thursday afternoon.

He is wanted for five counts of murder, and U.S. authorities had previously convicted him for illegally crossing the border. He was arrested in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Both arrests were led by HSI Omaha with support from federal and international law enforcement partners, and ICE is holding both gang members in custody as ICE coordinates with El Salvadoran authorities to send them back to their home country to “face justice.”