This has been going on in the black and brown communities for hundreds of years, but when the kid is in pain, we say, you know what, lock them up and throw away the key.

Hey, welcome to In the Thick. This is a podcast about politics, race, and culture from a POC perspective.

I'm Maria Inu Hosa. And I'm Julio Riccaldo Barrellas.

And joining us from Denver, Colorado is Gerardo Lopez. He's a former member of MS-13

and he is the current director of Homizunidos in Denver, which is a nonprofit that works to stop gang violence.

Hey Gerardo, welcome to In The Thick.

Hey, thanks for having me.

So this week we're going to do a deep dive into something that you've probably heard about in the news,

and that's MS-13. It's an international gang. It started in

Los Angeles in the 1980s. That means it started in the United States, and President Trump just can't stop talking about

MS-13.

We are throwing MS-13 the hell out of here so fair.

And Trump has been talking about MS-13 as if it's a gang that infiltrated the US from

Central America, but like you said, Maria, MS-13 started in the US and only then

spread back to El Sal El Salvador when many gang members were initially deported from the United States.

And the reason I was able to start in the United States in the first place? That was because many young people actually fled Central America to escape the civil war of the 80s that last time I checked was partially funded by the United States.

This is clearly not as simple as Trump as making it out to seem.

You know Central American gangs coming to the United States be afraid this is much more complicated right?

Yeah and and even though MS-13 is not an immigrant gang Trump has been talking about this

non-stop to sort of drum up the fear against immigrants.

So Gerardo.

You grew up in LA, you're actually not Salvadoran.

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