Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua expands criminal network to US

by Wallace White

A notorious Venezuelan gang is spreading its tentacles into the U.S. as a result of the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis. Experts say immigration authorities have no way to identify members of the criminal gang before they set foot on U.S. soil.

The gang, known as Tren de Aragua, has made headlines in recent weeks for its criminal activities across multiple states, according to multiple reports. Yet border authorities have virtually no tools to detect Venezuelan migrants’ ties to 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 virtually no screening for Venezuelans coming into the country because we have no relationship with the government of Venezuela and we have no relationship with any other nationality,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told DCNF. “We have no way of knowing if they were in prison in Venezuela. We have no way of knowing if they lived in a third world country for years before trying to come to the United States. We basically leave them at their word.”

A hotel in El Paso, Texas, was closed on September 9 following an investigation into the use of the property by Tren de Aragua and other gangs, where alleged incidents of drug use and prostitution occurred., according to the El Paso Times. Additionally, Dallas police confirmed to the DCNF that there is an ongoing investigation into the gang’s activities in the area.

“We really don’t see Tren de Aragua operating in McAllen or Del Rio, or anywhere like that,” Ammon Blair, a former Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent and senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the DCNF. “But they do operate in El Paso, because it’s a large city … there’s a large diaspora of Venezuelans there.”

In Aurora, Colorado, 10 members of Tren de Aragua were identified by police on September 11 as part of an investigation into a series of alleged criminal incidents at apartment complexes in the city, FOX 31 reported. The alleged crimes included aggravated menacing, assault, motor vehicle theft and numerous shootings.

According to The Denver Post, the property management company that oversees the complexes said the gang had effectively “taken over” the buildings.

Tren de Aragua’s shadowy presence has even caught the attention of Biden’s 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 began in 2013 as a prison gang in Venezuela’s Aragua state, took over Torocon prison and made it its base of operations, and grew to about 5,000 members by 2023, according to Understanding Crime.

Unlike other gangs, Tren de Aragua does not have a defined set of tattoos that would make it easy for law enforcement to identify members, the El Paso TimesThe gang’s primary target is Venezuelan migrants, whom they extort, smuggle and traffic to other countries, including the U.S., according to Understanding Crime.

In order for CBP to obtain criminal records information from Venezuelans, they must use Interpol data, since the U.S. does not have a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela to exchange criminal records, Blair told the DCNF. Additionally, CBP often has to release the detainee before they can obtain criminal records information from Interpol.

“When Biden came into office and offered catch and release policies, temporary protected status, you name it, Venezuelans started fleeing from all the other countries to the U.S. as well,” Blair told the DCNF. “So when we receive a lot of Venezuelans at the border, we’re going to see a lot of Venezuelans have multiple IDs from multiple countries, and so it’s very difficult to determine who they are.”

According to CBP data, between fiscal year 2021 and 2023, CBP saw a 421% increase in the number of Venezuelans it encountered at the southern border.

CBP told the DCNF that the agency has increased measures to screen for gangs, and that anyone deemed a threat is referred for prosecution or investigation as appropriate. It also cited the Biden administration’s initiatives to curb illegal immigration from the southern border, saying that the majority of encounters at the southern border over the past three fiscal years have resulted in a removal, return or expulsion.

“They will now be in every diaspora of Venezuelans or Venezuelan communities in the United States,” Blair added. “And now that we’ve imported over half a million Venezuelans since Biden took office, they will be in every one of those communities.”

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that he would designate Tren de Aragua a terrorist organization and place the “full burden of government” on the gang, The Texas Tribune reported. The gang has been active in the state since 2021 and has arrested more than 3,000 illegal immigrants from Venezuela since then, Abbott said.

“When it comes to migration from South America and Venezuela, I think they have a comparative advantage there that they’ve taken advantage of,” Zack Smith, senior legal officer at the Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF. “And then I think drug trafficking is something they can take advantage of in the same way.”

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 several South American countries implicated in the gang’s human and drug trafficking network.

“We don’t really screen anyone who comes in,” Blair told the DCNF. “We don’t detain them. We use alternatives to detention, so no one is really screened.”

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told the DCNF that the agency is working to contain the gang’s threat nationwide, citing efforts by the Biden administration to curb illegal border crossings. The agency also said it is working with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to disrupt the gang’s activities abroad and has enhanced its screening tools.

The El Paso Police Department did not respond to DCNF requests for comment.

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Wallace White is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.