A key leader of what law enforcement calls "one of the more powerful, violent and well-established" MS-13 cliques on the east coast was sentenced Wednesday to 68 years in prison.
Alexi Saenz, 30, was a top-ranking member of the Brentwood, Long Island, chapter of the Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside, a clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13.
Saenz, who is originally from El Salvador, pleaded guilty last year to racketeering and several brutal murders that devastated Suffolk County, the largest county on Long Island, east of New York City.
"Alexi Saenz led an unspeakable reign of terror, killing, and crime that damaged his community and cost several people their lives," United States Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a press release. "This sentencing is one of many in our relentless pursuit to dismantle the MS-13 and other violent criminal organizations."
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"Hopefully it provides a small measure of closure for the victims," Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney told Scripps News Group about the sentencing.
Saenz was sentenced for eight murders, multiple attempted murders, arson, narcotics trafficking, and firearms offenses, according to federal prosecutors.
"We're quite pleased that this violent felon who caused so much death and destruction here on Long Island is finally going to face justice," Suffolk County police union president Louis Civello told Scripps News Group.
For years, Long Island communities like Brentwood have been terrorized by MS-13 gang violence. Authorities say MS-13 has been associated with at least 25 murders on Long Island since 2016, including the vicious killings of two teen girls in Brentwood, Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15.
The two girls, lifelong friends and classmates at Brentwood High School, were chased by members of MS-13 and fatally attacked with a bat and machete. Saenz, and his brother Jairo Saenz — who is set to be sentenced in September — pleaded guilty to their murder.
"This person should never see the light of day again. They should not be on our street. They shouldn't be given an opportunity to murder another child," Civello said.
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Saenz's long-awaited sentencing, along with recent arrests of alleged MS-13 gang members around the country, coincides with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, which has zeroed in on MS-13 and other transnational criminal organizations.
According to the Justice Department, MS-13 has 10,000 members in at least 10 states and Washington, DC. Though the gang has ties to Central America, MS-13 originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s by El Salvadoran immigrants looking for protection from other gangs.
President Trump has long blamed MS-13 gang violence on weak immigration policies. During his first term he traveled to Long Island after Cuevas and Mickens' murder to "discuss the menace of MS-13, a ruthless gang that has violated our borders and transformed our once peaceful neighborhoods into blood-stained fields."
Months into his second term, Trump designated MS-13 a terrorist organization.
"They are now officially in the same category as ISIS," he said during his joint address to Congress. "Every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country."
Civello said local law enforcement has benefited from the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
"It is incredibly helpful to local law enforcement to have a federal government that is laser focused on violent crime, laser focused on fentanyl and focused on these transnational gangs. And using illegal immigration as an opportunity to take these people and get them out of our country and prevent them from harming other American citizens is what the Trump administration is doing really well," Civello told Scrips News.
Tierney said the sentencing of both Saenz brothers sends a message to criminal groups like MS-13 that "law enforcement is watching."
"Law enforcement is collaborating, and we are going to do whatever we can to work together to make sure that anyone who commits violence in our communities is held responsible, especially those that are members of transnational violent street gangs," Tierney added.
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Amid this collaboration between local and federal authorities is growing concerns that pressure from the White House to increase federal immigration enforcement operations is widening a dragnet and pulling in many immigrants who don't have criminal records.
While Ahmad Perez, a schoolmate of Cuevas and Mickens, called the sentencing of Saenz "a really crucial step towards justice and healing for our communities," he also told Scripps News Group the case is "a reminder that there's a lot of work that still needs to be done to ensure that these issues do not take place again."
Perez, who was born and raised in Brentwood and is the executive director of Islip Forward, argued that mass immigration enforcement will not solve systemic issues that have led to gang violence in his hometown.
"Gang violence has not been completely ridden from our communities and unless we really address those root causes, we will continue to find ourselves at this point. The year is the only thing that will be changing," Perez said.
"So, I hope that government – the systems that be – recognize the humanity of the issues that we face instead of just casting a wide net in enforcement," he added.
