Authorities in the U.S. and Central America say they have indicted thousands of violent street gang members since March, including a powerful MS-13 leader who allegedly ordered bloodshed on the East Coast while imprisoned in El Salvador.

Law enforcement officials announced the arrests Friday in Miami, where Justice Department officials are meeting with attorneys general from the so-called Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The notoriously brutal street gang has roots in Central America and the U.S., and authorities are touting the indictments of 3,800 members in six months as a sign that bolstered cooperation among the countries is paying off.

MS-13 has become a prime target of the Trump administration, which discusses its violence in suburban, immigrant communities in an effort to build support for a broader crackdown on immigration. President Donald Trump directed federal law enforcement to focus resources on combating transnational gangs during his first weeks in office. And Attorney General Jeff Sessions flew to El Salvador in July, in part to learn more about how the gang's activities there affect crime in the U.S.