Caracas in Venezuela – President Trump’s discussion of Hardline immigration policy focuses on Venezuelan gangster Tren de Aragua, a ruthless cross-border criminal organization, and for others it is an exaggerated anti-immigration story.
Trump named Tren DeLagua the invasion force on Saturday when he called for alien enemy laws since 1798, which allowed the president to deport non-citizens during wartime. Hours later, the Trump administration transferred hundreds of migrants to El Salvador, even if a federal judge issued an order temporarily banning deportation. The flight was in the air when the ruling fell.
Alien enemy laws require the president to declare the United States in war, giving extraordinary power to detain or eliminate foreigners who are otherwise protected by immigration and criminal law. It has only been used three times. This is the last time that justifies the detention of Japanese-American civilians during World War II.
The Trump administration has not identified more than 200 immigrants being deported. He actually provided evidence that he was a member of Tren de Aragua or committed a crime in the United States.
Gangs are infamous in the US
From Heartland to major cities like New York and Chicago, gangs have been criticized for sex trafficking, drug smuggling, police shootings and the exploitation of nearly one million Venezuelan immigrants who have recently crossed the US. Trump told Congress this month. Venezuelan immigrants said they found guilty to the murder of 22-year-old nursing student, Laken Riley, on the University of Georgia campus.
The size of the gang is unknown, as is the extent to which its actions are adjusted across state lines and borders.
The Venezuelan gang entered into political discourse with us after footage from security cameras that surfaced on social media last summer. In response, Trump vowed to “free the Aurora” from the Venezuelans. He accidentally said, “taking over the entire town.”
The city initially downplayed concerns. However, most of the apartments were closed under an emergency order last month after saying they suspected Tren de Aragua members for the invitation and assault of two residents.
Most of the men seen in the video have been arrested, and immigration and customs enforcement accused them of gang membership.
Tren came from the infamous prison
Tren, meaning “train” in Spanish, traces its origins over a decade ago to the infamous, lawless prison where criminals have hardened in the central province of Aragua. It has expanded in recent years as more than 7.7 million Venezuelans escape economic turmoil and migrated to Latin America or other parts of the United States under President Nicolas Maduro’s control.
Countries like Peru and Colombia — all with a large population of Venezuela’s immigrants — have denounced the groups behind violence in areas that had the highest murder rate in the world. Some of that crimes have spread panic in poor areas where gangs shut down local businesses and illegally charge residents for “protection.”
Rona Risquez, a Venezuelan journalist who wrote a 2023 book on the origins of the organization, said gangs act as a loose network of US tattoos commonly used by Central American gangs.
Venezuelans who were recently deported say they believe US authorities misjudged tattoos and used them as an excuse to deport them.
Trump targets Tren
On his first day in office, Trump took steps along with several Mexican drug cartels to designate gangs as “foreign terrorist organizations.” The Biden administration approved the gang and provided a $12 million reward for the arrest of the three leaders.
Trump’s executive order on Saturday accused the gang of working closely with Maduro’s top officials, particularly the former vice president, and working closely with Aragua’s Governor Orntime of Tarek El Aisami, and permeated the migration stream, killing cocaine in the United States and plotting a plot against the country.
“The outcome is a hybrid criminal nation committed invasions and predatory aggression on the United States, poses a great danger to the United States,” Trump’s executive order argued.
Wes Tabor, who headed the Venezuela Drug Enforcement Agency office when the gang first came to law enforcement radar, said Trump’s decision to empower the DEA and other federal agencies to make immigrant arrests was a “force multiplier” that cuts Tren’s activities in the United States.
Tabor said authorities need to build a robust database, as they did during El Salvador’s fight against MS-13, containing biometric data, arrest information and information from foreign law enforcement partners.
“You need to use a hammer on your ants because if you don’t, you’ll be out of control,” Tabor said. “We need to grind it now.”
Venezuelan officials protest
In Venezuela, authorities originally expressed embarrassment at US interests over Tren, claiming they dismantled the gang in 2023 after the group regained control of the prison where it was born. It also conditioned cooperation with US deportation flights on progress in other regions of long-term training bilateral relations.
Jorge Rodriguez, Maduro’s leading negotiator with the US, accused Washington of spreading false narratives about the gang, adding that most Venezuelan immigrants are decent people. He characterized the relocation of immigrants to El Salvador, saying that the government would challenge “crimes against humanity” before the United Nations and other international organizations.
“They are not restraining them, they are luring them out and banishing them,” he told reporters Monday. He added that Venezuelans who were transported to El Salvador cannot be detained behind bars there because they have not committed any crimes in the country.
Rodriguez, leader of Venezuelan parliament, said: “We do everything we can… even talking to the devil, so that the Venezuelans are sent back to their homeland.”
Kano and Goodman write for the Associated Press. Goodman reported from Miami.
