8 MS-13 gang members in US illegally indicted in Texas

Authorities say eight MS-13 members in the U.S. illegally have been indicted in Texas on charges tied to alleged gang activities including racketeering conspiracy, attempted murder and assault.

U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox announced the charges at a news conference Friday in Dallas.

Cox says seven suspects are in custody. Janet Pearre, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas, declined to comment on the status of the eighth.

A Department of Justice statement says some of them are tied to violence including machete attacks in Texas last year.

Agent Katherine Greer, deputy special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, says the defendants, mostly from El Salvador, are in the U.S. illegally.

The notoriously violent gang has been operating in the U.S. for decades.

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