On Thursday, the Trump administration revealed details of a nationwide operation targeting alleged MS-13 gang members, resulting in multiple arrests, including one in San Francisco on Wednesday. The FBI’s San Francisco office shared news of the arrest of Santos Rodriguez-Aleman, a Salvadoran national and suspected MS-13 member, via an X post on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the FBI, Rodriguez-Aleman has a criminal record in El Salvador, with convictions for drug trafficking, firearms offenses, and homicide. ICE officers based in San Francisco, with assistance from the FBI, carried out the arrest.
This arrest was part of a broader sweep across the United States. On Thursday, FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi joined Virginia law enforcement officials to announce the capture of a high-ranking MS-13 leader. Patel emphasized the task force’s commitment, stating, “The task force will go wherever it’s needed across the United States to deliver the justice, security, and safety that American citizens deserve.”
Bondi praised the early morning arrest of 24-year-old Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, a suspected top-tier MS-13 leader from El Salvador. He was apprehended in northern Virginia on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant and faced additional charges of illegal gun possession after authorities discovered multiple firearms during a search of his residence.
Bondi noted that Villatoro Santos, one of the gang’s top three leaders in the U.S., had been living in the country illegally.
