The Department of Justice under President Joe Biden is facing fierce backlash for granting a plea deal to Jairo “Funny” Saenz, a high-ranking MS-13 leader who admitted to participating in seven gruesome murders. Critics have called the decision “disgraceful” and an insult to the families of the victims.
The plea deal allows Saenz, 28, to avoid both the death penalty and a life sentence. Instead, he faces a maximum of 60 years and a minimum of 40 years in prison. This arrangement was confirmed in a Justice Department release on Tuesday, sparking outrage over what many see as a lenient punishment for a man who led a gang branch infamous for its brutality.
Saenz and his brother, Alexi, led the Sailors, a branch of the MS-13 gang operating in Suffolk County, New York. The brothers and their associates were notorious for their violent tactics and merciless killings.
Among the most horrific crimes committed by the gang was the September 2016 murder of high school students Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16. The girls were attacked while walking down a residential street, having been targeted by the gang for perceived slights.
According to the Justice Department, Saenz and several gang members chased the girls, beating them with baseball bats and hacking them with a machete. The Saenz brothers watched from their car to ensure police were not approaching. Both teens were struck multiple times in the head and body in a savage attack that left the community reeling.
Just weeks later, the gang struck again, this time killing 15-year-old Javier Castillo. Suspecting Castillo of being affiliated with the rival 18th Street gang, the MS-13 members lured him 30 miles away under the pretense of smoking marijuana. There, they took turns hacking him to death with a machete. Afterward, Castillo’s body was buried in a shallow grave, only to be discovered a year later. His autopsy revealed multiple sharp-force injuries across his head, neck, torso, and extremities.
Lou Civello, president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, was one of many to denounce the plea deal as unjust.
“It’s disgraceful. It’s an insult to the families,” Civello told Fox News. “When you look at how barbaric these crimes were—murdering young kids with machetes and baseball bats—this is a clear case for the death penalty.”
Civello emphasized that the potential sentence does not align with the severity of the crimes. If Saenz receives the minimum of 40 years, he could serve as little as six years per murder.
“For true justice, this person should never see the light of day again,” Civello said. “There should never be an opportunity for him to be back on our streets.”
The Justice Department has not provided a specific explanation for the plea deal. However, the announcement comes at a critical time. President Biden is nearing the end of his term, having recently commuted the sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates. This move aligns with his administration’s broader stance against the death penalty but has drawn significant criticism from conservative lawmakers and victims’ advocacy groups.
Critics argue that the Biden administration’s policies prioritize political ideology over justice for victims. Civello and others point to the plea deal as emblematic of a system that fails to hold the most violent offenders accountable.
The Saenz brothers’ reign of terror in Suffolk County highlights the ongoing threat posed by MS-13, a gang known for its extreme violence and extensive criminal network. Federal authorities have made strides in dismantling its operations, but the gang remains active in several regions across the United States.
Law enforcement officials stress the importance of sending a strong message through sentencing. They argue that leniency emboldens criminal organizations and undermines efforts to protect communities.
The plea deal’s timing, just weeks before President Biden leaves office, has raised questions about the administration’s priorities. Critics have accused Biden of leaving a legacy of leniency toward violent criminals, a narrative amplified by his commutations of federal death row sentences.
The case has also reignited the debate over capital punishment. Supporters of the death penalty argue that cases like Saenz’s exemplify its necessity, both as a deterrent and as a measure of justice for heinous crimes.
As Saenz awaits sentencing, the families of his victims and the Suffolk County community are left grappling with a justice system they feel has failed them. While the plea deal ensures Saenz will spend decades behind bars, many believe it falls far short of delivering justice for the lives he brutally took.
The Biden administration’s handling of the case is certain to remain a flashpoint in the broader debate over criminal justice reform and the federal government’s approach to violent crime.
This shows us americans how bad proquojoe is .Well he has done the same for his coke head son who should be in prison, Joe should have been put in a mental institution yrs ago
correct ..
How the Hell does an illegal high ranking MS13 gang member get a plea deal after 7 murders, arson, racketeering, gun violence, drug trafficking instead of the death penalty.?
It must be nice to get a sweet deal if you’re an illegal gang member and committ all those felonies including Capitol murder, where as an American Citizens would receive 100-200 years or the Death Penalty.
Because they’re the Communist Democrats future voters they get a pat on the back and a light sentence over the average American.?
He’ll probably get set free in 4 years and the families will never see justice for their son’s and daughters.
Those heinous crimes against Americans should not get any plea deals.!!
But that’s the Scum run New Jerk Communist Democrat controlled crap that the voters wanted. Just like Commifornia whose voters always voted Communist assholes into office and the same assholes every time.!
And look at their getting.
“It must be nice to get a sweet deal if you’re an illegal gang member”…..
or a DemoRat or the child of one or a Leftist.
Maybe he got off easy because he killed his own kind, unlike the creep that murdered Laken Riley.
They’re are all cut from the same cloth and deserve the worst punishment; so they get away with it here on earth be sure they won’t when their immortal souls move on!
they eat their own … horrible .
Why isn’t Biden apprehended for “sheer evil lunacy and arrogant breaching of all civil human decency along with moral codes of conduct for the “office of the presidency” to the point where Evil Joe he isn’t only “flaunting his arrogance and despotic twisted soul” while he “intentionally makes a mockery of justice and even God” just “a few days before” the New President “elected by the Citizens” is about to take office! There must be many ethics violations being perpetrated by his (evil Joe’s) wicked actions along with actual breaches of law! If this was a reversed situation where Trump was doing the same just a few days before leaving office for conservatives or J6 Protestors that he favors over Demoncraps there would be George Floyd type riots, looting burning of cities and the like that Maxine Waters, KamaChameleon and other high profile Demoncraps would be fanning the flames of in protest, that how dare Trump be lenient with MAGA supporters who are locked up for way lesser crimes like entering a federal restricted building area or doing some sidewalk prolife counseling of young women that are pregnant!
These Satan worshiping devils in said gang have even raped, tortured and murdered young girls after invading America through the Southern Border, and after the act even admit it was a sacrifice for Satan.
Another example:
“On June 16, 2024, Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl, was killed in North Houston, Texas. The case attracted national attention, as two undocumented immigrants from Venezuela were charged with her murder.[1] Authorities found her body the next morning in a creek in North Houston and determined she had been raped and murdered by strangulation.[2] Texas prosecutors have indicted the suspects on charges of capital murder, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual assault.” Wikipedia
In another case an even younger girl was attacked, raped and murdered in her own home!
This damn article points out these facts I’ve quoted about MS-13 that “say bluntly” what they are and “in this specific case did;” “notorious for their violent tactics and merciless killings.”
“Chased the girls, beating them with baseball bats and hacking them with a machete. The Saenz brothers watched from their car to ensure police were not approaching. Both teens were struck multiple times in the head and body in a savage attack that left the community reeling.”
WHAT!!! And “some kind of miscarriage of justice now overrides all of that” calling it “leniency” in such a conspiracy to commit such an egregious heinous demonic like attack in order for this lowest form of life (these are non-human scums) possessed by demons from the deepest pits of hell, to now even be maintained by American tax dollars (not even a citizen to begin with) in a prison population and then released in 40 years or who really knows at this point, maybe much less if they pull some “Demoncrap party” additional shenanigan with the (failed) justice system!
This “worthless devil” and all others associated with this crime should be swinging from ropes at the Gallows; PERIOD!
America knows that the heinous crimes committed by anyone including illegals in my State of Texas, don’t get off with plea deals, they receive the Death Penalty and it’s carried out no matter how much the pansie snowflakes protest.
Go to Hell Communist Democrats.!
God bless Texas! I agree they do the crime and take the consequences, especially for premeditated cold blooded vicious murder of another human being!
I think that the hidden China CCP agenda and now the embedded American Commies are going to fail one way or another! A point will come when they will be “dropping like flies” in a summer drought during a 120 degree heat wave!
Why? Because “Commies must not and cannot win,” they are “doomed from the start” being Antichrist spawn of Satan!
The families should create their own justice system and deliver retribution in the civil world. If the victims were my children I would outplan the perps and end of story.
I can understand this especially now that we live in a former “Great and Just Nation under God” which flipped the other way and too often serves Satan; not God or Justice! The corruption of the Judicial System is rampant and way too many Judges or Prosecutors are either on the take or just plain evil commies (Marxists)!
I agree … down with these evil killers .
Absolutely, the soft on crime that devils like Soros who has corrupted the justice system along with the Left like the Southern Poverty Law Center having pushed this agenda for decades, which has now exploded in our society and will get exponentially worse if the hammer isn’t dropped upon it all fast! America’s own Man of Perdition Quid pro Quo Joe was the right Devil for the Right Time to unleash this evil in its full fury; the result is America is in a shambles like never before and nearly defeated whether you think so or not! Don’t people get why Soros’ son Alex has made dozens of visits to the White House over the last few years!!! They are all Satanic!
What is f-ckin wrong with this country these prosecutors and judges need to be fired now no deals on illegals he should be in front of a firing squad and shot to death for killing innocent Americans citizens. These people need to have their family members raped and killed or maimed and see how the feel about Plea deals and leniency sentencing.
like your thinking …
Biden is off his rocker .. somebody needs to stop that clown .
Ty and Rose; my comment I just made above applies here as well! I’m even advocating that the “Gallows” be reinstated as a preferred method of execution for evil criminals such as these many of these bastards worship Satan! The message their ilk are getting now by this sham and miscarriage of justice is come to America and “do whatever the hell you please,” even rape and butcher women and young girls, because even if you get caught you got a comfortable prison to spend some time in where they take care of you; so much better than in our Banana Republic Dictatorship Nations where they kill you on the spot or torture you in a dungeon! In America you get to “be all the criminal you can be;” give it a shot!
I guarantee they bring back “The Gallows with Swift Justice” trials and executions by hanging again, like in previous centuries here in America; these animals will not be crossing our Southern Border in a trickle let alone en-masse by the tens of thousands!
He is alive ONLY because he knows where the smuggled nukes are at!
Psst! He lied but it worked!
All they do is lie; but starting at the top here, “stupid is as stupid does!”@Xiden(the useful idiot) Useful to who one may ask; “all of our worst enemies!”
Once again it proves Joe Biden is anti-American and should have been removed from office tried and sent to jail.
Walter Reed; absolutely and actually GITMO to be tried and executed by a military firing squad!
What could this disgusting piece of flesh possibly have to deal with? I don’t get it.
Someone is shining us on!