Trump speaks in New York town hit hard by gang violence

NEW YORK A wave of gang killings in New York's Long Island suburbs, many involving teenage victims, has caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who travelled Friday to one of the towns hit hardest by the violence.

The Republican president spoke before an audience of law enforcement officers and assailed the MS-13 street gang, which his administration has made a symbol of the need for stricter immigration laws. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions travelled to El Salvador on Thursday to talk about gang violence.

Trump has compared MS13's “meanness” to that of alQaida and has promised he'd rid the country of it.

Police officials say that since Jan. 1, 2016, there have been 17 murders by MS-13 members in Suffolk County, many of which have been in just two neighbouring suburbs, Brentwood and Central Islip. Some victims were high school students whose remains turned up months after they vanished, hidden in wooded areas or found on the grounds of an old psychiatric hospital.

The deaths began to get attention after best friends Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, both students at Brentwood High School, were beaten and hacked to death in September by a carload of gang members who spotted them walking down the street. Investigators said Cuevas had been feuding verbally with gang members.