FBI Captures Suspected MS-13 Gang Leader on ’10 Most Wanted’ List in Mexico
Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales has become the third fugitive captured from the ‘Most Wanted’ list since the inauguration of Trump.
On March 18, FBI Director Kash Patel reported the arrest of a suspected high-ranking member of the MS-13 gang.
Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, a 47-year-old from El Salvador and a wanted individual on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” list, faces serious charges for “his alleged participation in orchestrating multiple violent acts against both civilians and rival gang members, along with his involvement in drug trafficking and extortion operations within the United States and El Salvador,” as stated in his wanted poster.
Roman-Bardales’ charges include conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources for terrorism, narco-terrorism conspiracy, racketeering conspiracy, and alien smuggling conspiracy.
The FBI had previously offered a reward up to $250,000 for any information leading to his apprehension.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, Roman-Bardales is the third fugitive from the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list to be captured.
Related Stories
The first fugitive captured was Donald Eugene Fields II, who was taken into custody on January 25 in Lady Lake, Florida. Fields, 60, faces federal charges of child sex trafficking, along with state allegations in Missouri for statutory rape, statutory sodomy, child molestation, and witness tampering.
A second fugitive, Arnoldo Jimenez, was apprehended on January 30 in Monterrey, Mexico. Jimenez, 43, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing his wife in Illinois and has also been federally charged with fleeing to avoid prosecution.
During a press briefing on March 19, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed the arrests of “a number of dangerous aliens nationwide.” This list included illegal immigrants charged with sexual battery, rape, assault by strangulation, inappropriate sexual contact with children, and firearm-related assaults and rapes.
“These are heinous criminal alien monsters that the previous administration permitted to infiltrate our nation, and every time President Trump and his team deport one, our country becomes safer,” Leavitt stated.
One of Trump’s first actions after his inauguration was to designate international cartels and criminal gangs, including MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations.
Trump’s campaign included the promise to tighten control on illegal immigration, starting with the expulsion of noncitizens deemed a risk to public safety or national security.
The administration is currently appealing these decisions.
