A notorious Venezuelan gang is extending its tentacles into the U.S. on the back of the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis, and experts say that immigration authorities have no way of identifying the criminal group’s members before they hit American soil.
The gang, known as Tren de Aragua, has made headlines in recent weeks with its criminal activities in multiple states, according to multiple reports. Yet, border authorities have virtually zero tools to detect Venezuelan migrants’ affiliations with the gang, as the U.S.’ diplomatic relationship with the beleaguered country is effectively on ice, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“We have next to no vetting for the Venezuelans who are entering the country, because we have no relationship with the government of Venezuela and that’s true of other migrant nationalities,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told the DCNF. “We have no way of knowing whether they were in prison in Venezuela. We have no idea if they’ve been living in a third-world country for years before they tried to come to the United States. We’re essentially letting them in on their word.”
A hotel in El Paso, Texas, was shut down on Sept. 9 following an investigation into Tren de Aragua and other gangs’ use of the complex where alleged incidents of drug use and prostitution occurred, according to the El Paso Times. Additionally, the Dallas Police Department confirmed to the DCNF that there is an ongoing investigation into the gang’s activities in the area.
“We’re really not seeing Tren de Aragua operate in McAllen or Del Rio, or anything else like that,” Ammon Blair, former Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent and senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the DCNF. “But they are operating in El Paso, because it’s a major city … there’s a large diaspora of Venezuelans there.”
In Aurora, Colorado, 10 Tren de Aragua members were identified by police on Sept. 11 as part of an investigation into a string of alleged criminal incidents at apartment complexes in the city, according to FOX 31. The alleged crimes include felony menacing, assault, motor vehicle theft and numerous shootings.
The property management company overseeing the complexes said the gang had effectively “taken over” the buildings, according to The Denver Post.
Tren de Aragua’s nefarious presence has even managed to draw the gaze of the Biden Treasury Department, which declared the gang a transnational criminal organization and announced sanctions in July, citing its involvement in human trafficking, drug trafficking and money laundering. Tren de Aragua started as a prison gang in the Venezuelan state of Aragua in 2013, taking over the Torocon prison and making it their base of operations, growing to around 5,000 members in 2023, according to Insight Crime.
Unlike other gangs, Tren de Aragua doesn’t have a defined set of tattoos that would make it easy for law enforcement to identify members, according to the El Paso Times. The gang’s main target is Venezuelan migrants, who they extort, smuggle and sex traffic to other countries, including the U.S., according to Insight Crime.
In order for CBP to get criminal records from Venezuelans, they would have to use Interpol data, as the U.S. doesn’t have a memorandum of agreement with Venezuela to exchange criminal records, Blair told the DCNF. Moreover, CBP often has to release the detainee before they can obtain criminal records from Interpol.
“Once Biden came into office and offered catch and release policies, temporary protected status, you name it, the Venezuelans started fleeing to the U.S. from all the other countries as well,” Blair told the DCNF. “So when we receive a lot of Venezuelans at the border, we’ll see that many Venezuelans have multiple identification cards from multiple countries, and so it’s very difficult to ascertain who they are.”
From fiscal year 2021 to 2023, CBP saw a 421% increase in Venezuelans encountered at the southern border, according to CBP data. (RELATED: Migrants Allegedly Connected To Tren de Aragua Indicted In Jewelry Heist)
CBP told the DCNF that the agency has enhanced measures to screen for gangs, and any person deemed a threat is referred for prosecution or investigation as required. It also cited the Biden administration’s initiatives to curtail illegal immigration from the southern border, saying that the majority of southern border encounters in the last three fiscal years have resulted in a removal, return or expulsion.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent watches over more than 2,000 migrants at a field processing center on December 18, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
“They’re now going to be in every diaspora of Venezuelans or Venezuelan communities inside the United States,” Blair added. “And now that we’ve imported over half a million Venezuelans since Biden’s been in office, they’re going to be in every one of those communities.”
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday he would designate Tren de Aragua a terrorist organization and bring the “full weight of the government” on the gang, according to The Texas Tribune. The gang has been active in the state since 2021, and more than 3,000 illegal immigrants from Venezuela have been arrested since then, according to Abbott.
“When it comes to migration from South America and Venezuela, I think that’s somewhere where they have a comparative advantage that they’ve taken advantage of,” Zack Smith, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation told the DCNF. “And then I think also, in that same way, drug trafficking seems to be something that they’re able to tap into as well.”
In 2023, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) partnered with Peru to create a “Transnational Crime Investigation Unit” to combat Tren de Aragua, according to Dialogo Americas. Peru is one of the many South American countries involved in the gang’s network for trafficking people and drugs.
“We’re not heavily scrutinizing anyone coming in,” Blair told the DCNF. “We’re not detaining them. We’re using alternatives to detention, so no one’s really being vetted.”
A U.S. Department of State spokesperson told the DCNF that the agency is working to contain the threat from the gang nationwide, citing efforts from the Biden administration to curtail illegal border crossings. The agency also said they partner with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to disrupt the gang’s activity abroad and have improved their vetting tools.
The El Paso Police Department did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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