Dangerous MS-13 gang kingpin wanted for FIVE murders is caught by ICE hiding out in US city
The alleged kingpin is on El Salvador's 'Top 100 Most Wanted List' but his name is not yet being released by authorities to not jeopardize an ongoing investigation, Fox News first reported.
He is wanted by the Salvadoran government for the 'aggravated homicide of five victims, attempted aggravated homicide, deprivation of liberty and terrorist organization affiliation,' according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE also said it arrested another 'MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist' named Rene Saul Escobar Ochoa, 30.
Ochoa, who reportedly lived with the alleged kingpin in Omaha, is wanted for allegedly 'giving orders' to other gang members to commit murder and drug trafficking.
Two separate videos, both obtained by Fox News, show each man getting taken into custody.
The first video shows the alleged kingpin getting ordered out of his car and slowly backing up towards officers with Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). He is then put in handcuffs without incident.
The second video shows Ochoa wearing ankle shackles and being escorted into a detention facility by two law enforcement officers.
Both men were living illegally in the US, according to ICE. Further, the agency claimed the arrests were a 'targeted enforcement action' of suspects who posed a 'serious threat' to the Omaha area.
'These illegal aliens didn't just sneak into our country, they brought with them a legacy of violence, terror, and death,' said Mark Zito, ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge of Kansas City.
'They thought they could hide in America's heartland, but they were sadly mistaken, not on our watch,' Zito added.
Daily Mail approached ICE for additional comment.
Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons also released statement following these arrests, seeking to drive home a point immigration law enforcement officials have been making for months.
'When ICE agents move in to make an arrest, it is extremely important that the public not interfere,' Lyons said.
'The misinformation, and sometimes blatant lies, being spread around the country could result in someone stepping into a federal operation and suddenly finding themselves face-to-face with a killer who has nothing to lose,' he added.
'Our ICE officers and agents are protecting your neighborhoods, even when you don't know the threat is there, so either support them, or get out of the way,' he concluded.
Lyons was likely referring to pockets of the country where residents have been protesting outside areas where ICE officers are trying to make arrests.
This phenomenon was most pronounced in downtown Los Angeles, which saw about six days of sustaining protesting and rioting starting on June 7.
By June 9, the city had descended into utter chaos, with a van seen plowing into crowds, protesters torching cars and journalists being shot with rubber bullets by police.
President Donald Trump responded with a heavy hand and was criticized by Democrats from California and the nation as a whole.
On June 7, he federalized the California National Guard and deployed 2,000 members to the city.
On June 9, he deployed a 2,000 more national guard members and sent 700 Marines, who arrived the next day.
By June 12, the riots had largely fizzled out, but Los Angeles has seen a number of isolated protests in the weeks since, including one at Dodger Stadium.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
A Tunisian musician was detained in LA after living in US for a decade. His doctor wife speaks out
Dr. Wafaa Alrashid noticed fewer of her patients were showing up for their appointments at the Los Angeles area hospital where she works as immigration raids spread fear among the Latino population she serves. The Utah-born chief medical officer at Huntington Hospital understood their fear on a personal level. Her husband Rami Othmane, a Tunisian singer and classical musician, began carrying a receipt of his pending green card application around with him. Over the past few months, immigration agents have arrested hundreds of people in Southern California, prompting protests against the federal raids and the subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines. Despite living in the U.S. for a decade as one of thousands of residents married to U.S. citizens, he was swept up in the crackdown. On July 13, Othmane was stopped while driving to a grocery store in Pasadena. He quickly pulled out his paperwork to show federal immigration agents. 'They didn't care, they said, 'Please step out of the car,'' Alrashid recalled hearing the officers say as she watched her husband's arrest in horror over FaceTime. Alrashid immediately jumped in her car and followed her phone to his location. She arrived just in time to see the outline of his head in the back of a vehicle driving away. 'That was probably the worst day of my life," she said. The Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration has ensnared not only immigrants without legal status but legal permanent residents like Othmane who has green cards. Some U.S. citizens have even been arrested. Meanwhile, many asylum-seekers who have regular check-in appointments are being arrested in the hallways outside courtrooms as the White House works toward its promise of mass deportations. Alrashid said her husband has been in the U.S. since 2015 and overstayed his visa, but his deportation order was dismissed in 2020. They wed in March 2025 and immediately filed for a green card. After his arrest, he was taken to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in downtown Los Angeles where he was held in a freezing cold room with 'no beds, no pillows, no blankets, no soap, no toothbrushes and toothpaste, and when you're in a room with people, the bathroom's open,' she said. The Department of Homeland Security in an emailed statement noted the expiration of his tourist visa but did not address the dismissal of the deportation order in 2020 nor his pending green card application. The agency denied any allegations of mistreatment, and said "ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.' Alrashid said for years her husband has performed classical Arabic music across Southern California. They first met when he was singing at a restaurant. 'He's the kindest person,' Alrashid said, adding that he gave a sweater she brought him to a fellow detainee and to give others privacy, he built a makeshift barrier around the open toilet using trash bags. 'He's brought a lot to the community, a lot of people love his music," she said. More than a week after his arrest, fellow musicians, immigration advocates and activists joined Alrashid in a rally outside the facility. A few of his colleagues performed classical Arabic music, drumming loud enough that they hoped the detainees inside could hear them. Los Jornaleros del Norte musicians, who often play Spanish-language music at rallies, also were there. 'In Latin American culture, the serenade — to bring music to people — is an act of love and kindness. But in this moment, bringing music to people who are in captivity is also an act of resistance," said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Leading up to the rally, Alrashid was worried because she hadn't received her daily call from her husband and was told she couldn't visit him that day at the detention facility. She finally heard from him that evening. Othmane told her over the phone he was now at an immigration detention facility in Arizona, and that his left leg was swollen. 'They should ultrasound your leg, don't take a risk,' she said. Alrashid hopes to get her husband out on bail while his case is being processed. They had a procedural hearing on Thursday where the judge verified his immigration status, and have a bail bond hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Until then, she'll continue waiting for his next phone call.
Sky News
5 hours ago
- Sky News
One year ago, a furious mob rioted in Rotherham. Locals fear another outbreak of violence
A year has passed, but Paris and Josh still cannot quite believe what they witnessed last August. They live 200m from a hotel on the edge of a quiet residential street. "It looked like a modern-day lynching," Paris says. It's the only way she can describe the sickening scene that unfolded as a furious mob tried to attack asylum seekers being housed in the Holiday Inn Express north of Rotherham. 1:40 After seeing masked men setting fires and storming into the hotel, Paris says she was afraid they were going to see "either someone getting thrown out a window, or someone getting dragged outside". Josh remembers looking out of his bedroom window and thinking: "What is England coming to? What is going on?" "It was like they were going to a festival," Paris says. "They had ski masks on and bags full of alcohol, people were taking the kids, like they had the kids on their shoulders." To protect their car, Josh drove it off his driveway to another street nearby. They then retreated inside and watched six or seven hours of chaos unfold. It was one of the most serious outbursts of rioting during a week last August when disorder spread through towns and cities. Days after the knife attack which left three school girls dead in Southport, years of deep-rooted frustration about immigration boiled over. Twelve months on, the Holiday Inn Express next to Josh and Paris' home has reopened as a regular hotel, but the tension that has been seen around other migrant hotels recently hasn't disappeared. "I still see in groups (online) all this hate being spilled," Josh says. "I think it probably could happen again," Paris adds. "That's the faith I have in the country, really." The courts have handed out lengthy prison sentences to those involved in the disorder, leading to rows about whether they match the crimes people committed. The mayor of South Yorkshire says tensions over immigration remain unresolved and told Sky News he believes migrants, hotel workers or police officers could have been killed last August. "Had they [rioters] been more effective at doing some of the things they were trying to do, we would have seen people dying on the day," Oliver Coppard says. "What it speaks to, in my mind, is the poverty that we see in some of our communities, which feeds a sense of grievance." Mr Coppard - who has responsibility for policing in South Yorkshire - added: "Ultimately what we need in this country is a better approach to cohesion, to community integration so people are supported to live full lives within our communities and a proper and legal approach to asylum. "Those things are incredibly toxic and politics is not doing a good job I think of dealing with those issues." Protests around other migrant hotels in recent weeks show that the grievances of last summer still hang in the air. In Rotherham market we meet 23-year-old scaffolder Josh. "I don't think it has been solved," he says. When I asked him how that makes people feel, he replies: "Angry because it makes people want to riot again." He says he has no issue with people who move to the UK legally to work, but adds it is "unfair" when people arrive on small boats and receive hotel accommodation while their asylum cases are processed. Gabriel, 38, who was born in Rotherham, says he feels people look at him differently since last summer's disorder. "I couldn't see anybody smiling at me like they used to before the riot, they are putting every minority in the same box which is wrong," he says. "There is still a bit of aftermath, anger, rage, upset - in everybody's eyes. "That tension alone is worse than the actual incident because before, I think, it was hidden but now it is out there." A woman who didn't want to be named says: "The backlash is going to happen with the government against the people - the people against the government, it is not right. "The way I see it, we all have to live together ... we bleed the same blood, we breathe the same air." That spirit of conciliation and tolerance is less common than it once was - it is a hallmark of a failed immigration system that has left deep-rooted frustration in communities across the UK.
The Independent
7 hours ago
- The Independent
‘First Amendment has limits': Tom Homan insists that Mahmoud Khalil will be deported
Donald Trump's border czar is adamant that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil will still be deported from the country despite several court rulings that have kept the Palestinian activist out of detention. A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a request from the Trump administration to re-arrest Khalil and keep him in immigration detention center while he continues to challenge the government's attempts to remove him from the United States. Homan says the administration will continue to appeal. 'We got radical judges just trying to stop the Trump administration from doing our job and enforcing the law,' he told Newsmax on Thursday. He claimed there is 'only one ending' to Khalil's case: 'We detain him and deport him, but regardless, he will be deported.' That same day, the immigration court judge overseeing his case voided her earlier ruling that allowed the government to deport him. Khalil, a prominent student activist against Israel's war in Gaza, was stripped of his green card and arrested in front of his then-pregnant wife in their New York City apartment building on March 8. He was then sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, where he was held for more than 100 days and forced to miss the birth of his child. Trump administration officials have accused Khalil of 'antisemitic activities,' allegations Khalil and his legal team have flatly denied. Officials concede that Khalil did not commit any crime, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sought to justify Khalil's arrest by claiming that Khalil's presence in the country undermines foreign policy interests to prevent antisemitism. Khalil and his legal team argue his arrest and detention — and attempted removal from the country, which is currently blocked by court order — are retaliatory violations of his First Amendment right to freedom of speech and his Fifth Amendment right to due process of law, among other claims. 'Look, First Amendment rights have a limitation, too,' Homan told Newsmax. 'He did a lot of bad things. We're going to hold him accountable. He will be deported.' On June 11, a federal judge granted Khalil's release from ICE detention on bail while legal challenges against his arrest and threat of removal from the country continue in both federal and immigration courts. New Jersey District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled that the administration had unconstitutionally wielded the law against Khalil, whose 'career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled,' the judge wrote. The government has 'little or no interest in applying the relevant underlying statutes in what is likely an unconstitutional way,' Farbiarz added. 'Mahmoud spent 104 days in detention as punishment for speaking out for Palestinian rights,' ACLU senior staff attorney Noor Zafar said in a statement after this week's appeals court ruling. 'That is time with his family that he will never get back, but this decision affirms that he will remain free and that the government cannot pursue his removal based on the likely unconstitutional foreign policy charge as his case moves through appeal,' she added. 'We will not stand by and allow the government to weaponize immigration law to suppress lawful political speech.' Khalil's attorneys have also argued that the administration's secondary basis for his arrest and removal — allegations that he lied in immigration paperwork — are similarly retaliatory and violate his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment due process rights. The White House continues to insist that Khalil can still be deported on those grounds. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Independent on Friday that 'Khalil was given the privilege of coming to America to study on a student visa he obtained by fraud and misrepresentation.' 'Despite the lower court judge's wishes to the contrary, the executive branch has the lawful authority to take actions that will protect America's foreign policy interests and promote the overall welfare of the public,' she added. 'The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.'
