Gloves Off: Texas Governor Abbott Declares Tren de Aragua a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ in State

HOUSTON, TX — Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott is taking action as the Biden-Harris administration struggles to secure the southern border.

On Monday, Abbott announced that the state has declared the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) a “foreign terrorist organization,” Fox News Digital reported.

During a press conference Monday, Abbott said the Lone Star State is conducting a comprehensive, statewide operation designed to aggressively target the Venezuelan gang identified as operating an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, and San Antonio, Texas. The goal is to disrupt the gang’s criminal activities and eliminate its foothold in the state.

“Today in Houston, I designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Texas will aggressively pursue them to disrupt their criminal activities and gain a foothold in our state,” Abbott said in a message on X. “Texas is the wrong state to do business in.”

As part of the campaign, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will elevate TdA to a Level 1 gang and create a special strike team that will identify and arrest gang members.

“The recent entry and expansion of the vicious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is a dangerous and deadly challenge for our state and nation,” Abbott said. “Our number one focus is the safety and security of all Texans.”

“Our goal is to defend Texas from the growing gang threat. We will not allow them to use Texas as a base to terrorize our citizens. They have a target on their backs and we are going after them,” the governor continued.

Abbott was joined at the press conference by DPS Director Steve McCraw, Texas Border Czar Mike Banks and Chris Cabrera, vice chairman of the National Border Patrol Council.

“Tren de Aragua gangsters are like cockroaches,” McCraw said. “They multiply rapidly; small break-ins in communities become plagues if not dealt with aggressively. These Venezuelan thugs are very combative, violent and certainly adaptable.

“They’re always involved in situations that start with human smuggling. Then they’re involved in extortion, kidnapping, rape, assault, sex trafficking of migrants,” McCraw continued. “Governor Abbott has made it very clear: We will not allow any of these gangsters to get a foothold in Texas.”

In 2023, Abbott signed SB 1900, which defines transnational drug cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in the state of Texas, while increasing penalties for distributing illegal drugs and operating drug caches.

As mentioned above, the gang has caused major problems in Colorado.

Four members of the gang arrested in Aurora are confirmed illegal aliens, according to an earlier statement from ICE to Fox News Digital. The four, ranging in age from 19 to 24, all entered the country illegally through Texas in 2022 and 2023 under the Biden-Harris open borders policy. Two of them have been given ICE detention.

The four were arrested in connection with a shooting near the Nome Street Apartments in Aurora, one of several apartment buildings in the city that have reportedly been taken over by armed members of the TdA.

The gang is primarily based in Venezuela and has an estimated 5,000 members spread across Venezuela and the United States.

The House Committee on Homeland Security estimates that there have been more than 7.8 million encounters with illegal aliens at the southwest border, with some estimates putting the number much higher. That doesn’t include so-called “gotaways” that ICE hasn’t encountered.

Since Biden took office in 2021, there have been a number of high-profile cases of innocent people being murdered by illegal immigrants, including college student Laken Riley in Georgia, mother of five Rachel Morin in Maryland, and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Abbott’s home state of Texas, to name a few.