Evelyn Rodriguez, whose daughter was killed by a notorious gang, was invited to attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
In September 2016, Rodriguez’s daughter, Kayla Cuevas, was killed by members of MS-13 in Brentwood, New York.
MS-13 is a violent, transnational gang founded in Los Angeles by El Salvadoran refugees.
Kayla, 16, and her friend, Nisa Mickens, 15, were beaten with a baseball bat and stabbed with a machete when they were accosted by 10 members of the gang.
One of the members involved with the murders was a previously deported illegal immigrant who had re-entered the United States.
The gang is blamed for 25 murders on Long Island since January 2016, according to Fox News.
MS-13 seeks to instill fear in people through machete attacks, gang rape, and human trafficking, Robert Hur, an official at the Department of Justice, told Fox News in 2017.
MS-13’s motto is “mata, viola, controla,” which means “kill, rape, control.”
Trump has made targeting MS-13 a top priority since he launched his presidential campaign in 2015.
Big progress being made in ridding our country of MS-13 gang members and gang members in general. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2017
“I just want what’s right to be done,” Rodriguez told The New York Times. “Everybody should put their political agenda aside and think about what’s going on in our country.”
Rodriguez was invited to the White House to speak with Trump before the address Tuesday night.
During the State of the Union address, Trump is expected to speak about the dangers that illegal immigration poses to the U.S., citing MS-13 and related crime as examples.
The State of the Union address is Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST.
