AG Marshall claims violent Venezuelan gangs are flying into the country

In a recent podcast, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall alleged that violent Venezuelan gangs entered the United States under the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

“We’re seeing more of the Haitian side of the numbers, at least now in Alabama. But you still hear the stories about Venezuelan gangs. Besides, they make MS-13 look like choir boys,” Marshall said. “And those are something that are very much on the radar of law enforcement right now.”

Marshall’s comments echo now-debunked conspiracy theories spread by former President Donald Trump that Venezuelan gangs had taken over “large parts of a city, large parts of an area in Colorado.”

Trump’s comments came after surveillance video from an apartment complex in Aurora, CO caught the media’s attention, showing a group of armed men – apparently members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang – roaming the halls before entering an apartment entered. According to reporting from The Denver Post, “Aurora and the Denver Police Department… say the gang is not large and that they operate in remote areas. Others say Tren de Aragua’s presence in Aurora, a city of nearly 400,000, is overhyped.”

“There’s a hysteria that apparently we have a gang problem, but what we have is a slumlord problem in the city of Aurora,” said Aurora City Councilwoman Alison Coombs. Officials like Coombs attribute the poor conditions of these apartment buildings to poor supervision by the property management company and not to gang activity.

In fact, residents of the apartments have openly stated that they are much more concerned about the poor living conditions they experience as a result of the mismanagement of the buildings by the ‘slumlords’ than about the gang members. “They say there are gangs and criminals, but the only criminal here is the owner,” one of the residents, Moises Didenot, told reporters in September.

Aurora Interim Police Chief Heather Morris even had to clarify that residents do not pay rent to gang members, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary. Crime in Aurora has actually fallen significantly this year, despite claims that the influx of Venezuelan asylum seekers has made the city more dangerous. Overall reported crime in Aurora is down 20 percent in the first eight months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

But even as communities like Aurora battle the mischaracterization of their Venezuelan neighbors, Attorney General Marshall is doubling down on claims that violent immigrants are flooding into the country. Marshall even claimed that these “Venezuelan gangs” are simply flying into the country, apparently as a result of the Biden administration’s Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV), which has expanded access to asylum for refugees from the said countries .

“It’s a huge waiting list. And remember: these are people who don’t have to show up at a border crossing to give their reason for doing so. They do it via an app. They fly here on a plane and go through certain destinations,” Marshall told 1819 News.

Marshall had previously called the claim that Haitian immigrants were overwhelming Alabama communities “a legitimate concern.” Haitian refugees have also recently been victims of widely debunked conspiracy theories claiming that they are eating their neighbors’ pets. Former President Trump also played a role in promoting these misconceptions.

“They eat the dogs, the people that came in, they eat the cats,” Trump said during the September presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. “They eat the pets of the people who live there, and this is what is happening in our country, and it is a shame.”

Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, also took part in spreading the conspiracy before later admitting he knew the stories were fabricated. Vance told CNN he was willing to “create stories so that the… media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people.”

Although he began his remarks by insinuating that Venezuelan refugees were dangerous gang members, Marshall went on to portray the asylum seekers not as dangerous criminals, but as vulnerable populations who could be endangered. himself by coming to the United States.

“This is not fair to the individuals coming over from Haiti and other places because if there is no sponsor to take care of them, what are they? They are left to fend for themselves,” Marshall said. “They don’t speak the language. They don’t understand where to go or what to do. And then they may be left to deal with people who aren’t there for good reasons, but instead to take advantage of them.

However, Marshall was quick to indicate that he did not believe that spending resources to ease the social and cultural transition for these refugees would be a good idea.

“When we have these broader concerns about the welfare of those who are brought into this country, that is somehow dismissed. And I don’t think this is lost at all on the people who just say: how can the government do this to us without us even knowing about it?” Marshall continued. “Because there is no doubt, and I don’t think anyone can argue this, that if you are brought to this country and you don’t speak the language, there are higher social costs that have to be spent to integrate into society. .”

Marshall’s comments leave it largely unclear what his real concerns about the CHNV program are and what he believes needs to be done to properly address that problem, whatever it may be.