ICE arrests accused illegal immigrant MS-13 gang leader in Maryland

ICE arrests accused illegal immigrant MS-13 gang leader in Maryland

HYATTSVILLE, Md. (7News) — ICE agents said they arrested a high-ranking leader of the notorious MS-13 transnational gang who is also on the U.S. Department of Justice’s Terror Watchlist.

ICE told 7News reporter Nick Minock that on Sept. 11, ICE arrested Franklin Ariel Espinal-Cabrera, 29, in Hyattsville, Maryland.

“This is exactly the kind of arrest that the men and women of ICE envision when we target the worst of the worst,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Robert Guadian. “Franklin Ariel Espinal-Cabrera has absolutely no reason to be on the streets of our American communities. He checks all the boxes; he is an illegal alien, a high-ranking leader in a transnational criminal organization, and he has a criminal history that includes illegal entry into the United States and unlawfully carrying a weapon. Furthermore, he is on the Justice Department’s Terror Watchlist. His mere presence in our country constitutes a direct threat to the members of our American communities.”

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ICE told 7News that U.S. Border Patrol encountered Espinal-Cabrera after he illegally entered the United States as an unaccompanied child on July 4, 2014, near Rio Grande City, Texas.

ICE arrested Espinal-Cabrera on March 17, 2017, after he was charged in Harris County, Texas, with unlawfully carrying a weapon. On Nov. 17, 2017, ICE said Espinal-Cabrera was released from custody on a $2,000 bond.

Then on Aug. 22, 2018, ICE said officers executing a federal arrest warrant in Houston, Texas, against an MS-13 gang member charged with homicide encountered Espinal-Cabrera at the location and that Espinal-Cabrera admitted to officers that he was a member of MS-13.

ICE said on Sept. 27, 2018, Espinal-Cabrera was charged in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas with illegally entering the United States, and he was convicted Dec. 18, 2018, and sentenced to time served.

On Dec. 16, 2024, a Department of Justice immigration judge ordered Espinal-Cabrera removed from the United States to El Salvador, according to ICE.

ICE said Espinal-Cabrera is currently the First Word Leader for the Coronado Locos Salvatruchos Clique of MS-13 and is known by the moniker “Inconforme.” ICE added that Espinal-Cabrera was nominated to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Terrorist Watchlist and was issued a terrorist screening number.