US round-up of Mara Salvatrucha members

The AP reports on the announcement in Washington that federal authorities have arrested 103 members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, also known as MS-13. The Central American gang has thousands of members in El Salvador.

Despite repeated assurances by the FBI and others last month that there are no ties between the gang and al-Qaida, the article once again resurrects those fears:

Last month, former Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy called MS-13 an emerging threat to the United States, referring to the gang and the al-Qaida terrorist organization in the same breath in testimony to Congress. Garcia said Monday that while there is no definitive link between MS-13 and al-Qaida, the gang’s operations show that “you have to accept that as a homeland security risk as well.”

I think the better phrasing would be "Homeland Security is going to go after all bad guys, whether they are al-Qaida terrorists or whether they are vicious gang members of Mara Salvatrucha."