U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that special agents arrested Josue Saul Garcia-Lopez, a Salvadoran national identified as an active MS-13 member, in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Garcia-Lopez is wanted in El Salvador for alleged extortion and robbery schemes. According to an ICE post on Facebook, the man entered the United States at an unknown date and location.
In July 2025, ICE Homeland Security Investigations arrested 30 gang members and associates in Northern Virginia during a three-day multi-agency operation. The arrests included MS-13 members from El Salvador and Guatemala and involved immigration law violations and other offenses tied to gang activity, according to a press release from the agency.
MS-13 originated in Los Angeles during the 1980s and maintains transnational ties to El Salvador. Federal law enforcement assessments have estimated the gang has 8,000 to 10,000 members in the United States, according to federal law enforcement assessments.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was created in 2003 through a merger of elements from the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The agency has more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel in over 400 offices in the United States and abroad, according to its website.