❓WHAT HAPPENED: Federal law enforcement arrested two illegal immigrant MS-13 gang leaders during a raid in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday. Both men are wanted by El Salvador’s government for numerous violent crimes.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Melvin Alejandro Varela Pérez, a.k.a. Payaso, Rene Escobar-Ochoa, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), other federal law enforcement agencies, MS-13, the government of El Salvador, INTERPOL, and the former Biden government.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The two MS-13 gang leaders were arrested on Wednesday, July 9, 2025; both were detained and paroled into the United States by the former Biden government.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The Biden Administration allowed two ringleaders of MS-13, one of the most violent gangs in the world, straight into our country. One of these depraved aliens is on El Salvador’s 100 Most Wanted Fugitives list and is wanted for five counts of murder. The other has an INTERPOL notice for drug trafficking.” — DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
🎯IMPACT: Both men are now in ICE custody while the agency coordinates for them to be returned to El Salvador.
Two illegal immigrant MS-13 gang kingpins were arrested during a federal raid in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Melvin Alejandro Varela Pérez—also known as Payaso—and Rene Escobar-Ochoa are both wanted by the Salvadoran government and are accused of numerous murders, conspiracy to commit murder, and drug trafficking. Pérez is listed on El Salvador’s 100 Most Wanted, and Escobar-Ochoa is the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice. Concerningly, DHS states that despite the warrants and Red Notice, both men were paroled by the former Biden government into the United States after being detained while illegally crossing the U.S. southern border.
“The Biden Administration allowed two ringleaders of MS-13, one of the most violent gangs in the world, straight into our country,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’s Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs. “One of these depraved aliens is on El Salvador’s 100 Most Wanted Fugitives list and is wanted for five counts of murder. The other has an INTERPOL notice for drug trafficking.”
“These are the kinds of scum-bags sanctuary politicians are protecting and letting walk free on America’s streets,” she added.
Both men are now in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after being captured in the raid, which was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and included other federal and international law enforcement partners. DHS says that ICE will continue to hold both MS-13 leaders as it coordinates with the Salvadoran government on returning them to the Central American nation to face justice.
#SeBusca | Melvin Alejandro Varela Pérez (A) Payaso. Denúncielo al 121 – 911 ó en https://t.co/9UiCdn39EB . Los #100MásBuscadosSV pic.twitter.com/B6hMsSBWlI
— PNC El Salvador (@PNCSV) May 26, 2018
The arrests are being highlighted as a shocking example of the lack of adequate vetting of illegal immigrants detained and subsequently released into the interior of the U.S. under former President Joe Biden.
Speaking on the matter on Thursday, President Donald J. Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, blasted the Biden-Harris era, noting that former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had directed U.S. immigration officials to only proceed with immediate deportations when the detainee had prior violent criminal convictions and not merely warrants for violent crimes.
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