MS-13 is a real issue for all parties

-Source-Richmond-Times Dispatch- Is MS-13 overtaking a middle school in Md.?" The question comes not from a Donald Trump tweet or some right-wing blog but from the front page of a recent Washington Post. The story reports on the situation at William Wirt Middle School in Riverdale Maryland: Gang-related fights are now a near-daily occurrence at Wirt where a small group of suspected MS-13 members ... throw gang signs sell drugs draw gang graffiti and aggressively recruit students recently arrived from Central America.... The situation inside the aging over-crowded building has left some teachers so afraid that they refuse to be alone with their students." Nor is Wirt unique: Dozens of schools from Northern Virginia to Long Island to Boston are dealing with a resurgence of MS-13 which has been linked to a string of grisly killings throughout the country." And yet Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie provoked howls of protest last year when he ran campaign ads referencing MS-13. Critics scoffed at the idea that the notorious gang represented any kind of threat; George Mason University even cranked out a report to rebut Gillespies concerns. More recently Trumps references to the gang also have provoked pushback from liberal Democrats not merely because he seemed to conflate the gang with immigrants generally but also in some cases because his comments about MS-13 were considered too unkind. This is ridiculous. Immigration is not just a net gain for the U.S. but a vital infusion of fresh talent and perspectives. Immigrants both legal and illegal consistently commit less crime than native-born Americans. But that does not mean every foreign-born person in the U.S. is a saint and pretending that MS-13 is a non-problem just because Republicans say otherwise is the epitome of knee-jerk partisan cheerleading.