‘Large number’ of Tren de Aragua gang members cross border state

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The Mexican border state of Chihuahua is on high alert after reports that several Venezuelan gang members have used the El Paso, Texas-Juarez, Mexico corridor to enter the U.S.

“We have discovered – thanks to collaboration with the United States – that a large number of people belonging to Tren de Aragua have traveled through Chihuahua,” Gilberto Loya, the state’s director of public security, said Monday.

The police chief said no murders or other extremely violent acts can be attributed to Tren de Aragua, but that its members have been linked to three killings in central Mexico.

“It’s something that has set off (red) lights,” Loya said. The killings include the murder of two women and the violent death of one of their own gang members. “These people who lost their lives may have been killed by Tren de Aragua.

“Given what’s happening in (Central Mexico), we want to be at the forefront here in Chihuahua.”

The U.S. Treasury Department last month designated Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization engaged in criminal activities for profit, including human smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering and “gender-based” violence, such as forcing women into prostitution.

“Tren de Aragua uses its transnational networks to traffic people, especially migrant women and girls, across borders for sex trafficking and debt bondage,” the Treasury Department said in its July 11 directive. “Members of Tren de Aragua often kill them and publicize their deaths as a threat to others.”

The US government is also offering a $12 million reward for the gang’s three top leaders, who are believed to be hiding in South America.

Members of Tren de Aragua are suspected of the murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia college student, and the shootings of two New York Police Department officers.

The Chihuahua government last week invited a Chilean gang expert to brief its police commanders on the tactics Tren de Aragua uses to infiltrate countries outside Venezuela, where the gang began as a prison clique.

“They get in by networking with smaller local groups,” Loya said. “They stay in the background — and that’s important — because by the time the authorities realize this, they’re already there and they’re not discovered until they’re caught committing a crime.”