NARRATOR:
President Trump talked about the murder
of two girls from Long Island by the notorious MS-13 gang.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Here tonight are two fathers and two
mothers, their two teenage daughters: Kayla Cuevas and
Nisa Miceksn were close friends on Long Island.
These two precious girls were brutally murdered while
walking together in their hometown.
Six members of the savage MS-13 gang have been charged
with Kayla and Nisa's murders.
Tonight, I am calling on Congress to finally close the
deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other...
The murder has been used by the administration
in its fight for tougher immigration policy.
On September 13, 2016, the two girls were
brutally attacked next to an elementary school
in Brentwood, Long Island.
NEWSMAN:
in this neighborhood last night, on the eve...
TIMOTHY SINI:
I remember exactly where I was sitting-- and...
we first received a briefing sheet on it,
because the injuries were so horrific
that the first hypothesis was that...
it's a motor vehicle crash, a hit-and-run.
NARRATOR:
Cuevas and Nisa Mickens.
JOHN OLIVA:
You know, they used machetes, they used baseball bats.
They took it to a level that
I don't think anybody was ready for.
VICTOR RAMOS:
One of them was found in the street,
the other behind some homes.
And there was no apparent motive
other than they might belong, or be friends with,
members of some other gang.
PATRICK YOUNG:
to settle the score with somebody,
they didn't find that person,
and then they encountered these girls.
One of them had apparently taunted them on Facebook,
and so they killed her,
and they killed her friend just because she
was there with her.
LIZ ROBBINS: This set off a chain reaction
because, for the very first time,
you're not seeing rival gang members being
murdered, and that usually was what was happening.
Now you have two girls,
viciously and senselessly beaten and murdered.
And that's when the Suffolk County Police
went into overdrive.
NEWSWOMAN:
an act of savagery on this community,
and they're asking for the public's help.
NARRATOR:
and the Suffolk County Police
-have long been fraught.
a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest...
NARRATOR:
would be challenging.
YOUNG:
had created a climate of fear.
People in the county,
uh, who were Latino felt intimidated
in going to the police, people were afraid
to come forward, people said that they had been mistreated
by the police, and they were very frightened,
that rather than take their claim seriously,
they'd simply be dismissed
or maybe suspected of being in a rival gang.
NEWSWOMAN: Four members
were charged in connection to the September slayings
of Nisa Mickens and Kayla...
NARRATOR:
for the police to find the suspected killers.
-(camera shutter clicks)
officials announced they had found them.
Among those arrested was a young Salvadoran
who was one of the leaders of a local subgroup
of MS-13, known as a clique.
They called themselves the Westside Sailors.
(shutter clicks)
His name is Jairo Saenz,
and he went by the alias "Funny."
NEWSMAN:
most of the suspects arrested in these recent cases were
in the country illegally.
NARRATOR:
MS-13 has been on a rampage on Long Island.
Law enforcement believes there are anywhere from 200
to 400 active MS-13 members, and around a dozen cliques.
NEWSWOMAN:
gang-fighting units pledging to stand behind
a suffering community of schoolchildren...
The savages who murdered Nisa and Kayla...
are now behind bars.
NARRATOR:
Timothy Sini, seized the moment.
And if you're an MS-13 gang member,
take a look behind me.
For every person here, there's ten more.
NEWSMAN:
They appear to be linked to gang violence...
NARRATOR:
MS-13 would send their own message.
-(phone rings) -GERALDINE HART:
from the chief of, uh, detectives in Suffolk County,
and... when they say four bodies,
your thought process is, well, they came across four bodies,
almost like a killing field.
But, no, that it was...
they were fresh bodies was astounding.
NEWSMAN:
into fear and terror...
NARRATOR:
who had been lured into the woods by two girls.
Mike Lopez, Justin Llivicura,
Jefferson Villalobos, and Jorge Tigre were ambushed.
They were hacked to death by machete, the
preferred weapon of MS-13.
ROBBINS:
beaten...
they were knifed...
they had machetes put upon their bodies, savagely.
NARRATOR:
didn't know what had happened.
When they received some worrying messages,
they feared the worst.
NARRATOR:
discovered the bodies.
ROBBINS:
hysterical, and his father's still in the police precinct,
and he says, "Dad,
"I found them.
"He's dead.
They're dead."
NARRATOR:
President Trump tweeted about MS-13 for the first time.
TRUMP:
that were here, that caused tremendous crime,
that have murdered people, raped people.
Horrible things have happened.
They're getting the hell out or they're going to prison...
NARRATOR:
from his administration amplified the message.
JEFF SESSIONS:
We are not going to allow them to take over a block
or a corner of our communities
and terrorize people with this violence.
They use machetes...
They are utterly without laws, conscience
or respect for human life.
The last, very weak administration
allowed thousands and thousands of gang members
to cross our borders and enter into our communities,
where they wreaked havoc on our citizens.
SERGIO ARGUETA:
on a narrative they've been promoting the entire election
to sow division among the people of this country.
We've seen the horrible assaults and many killings
all over Long Island, where I grew up.
ARGUETA:
were going to use this particular case
to fuel that narrative.
And that's exactly what happened.
We're sending them the hell out of our country.
We're sending them back home where they belong.