A primary target of the blitz of Trump administration immigration raids is an emerging organized crime group from Venezuela.
A series of immigration executive actions by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term included a recommendation that the State Department start the process of designating the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist organization.
An executive order, signed on January 20, specifically named Tren de Aragua and the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, citing their “campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally” as threats to “the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.” Trump’s order also asked that the terrorist designation apply to Mexico’s drug cartels.
The president’s designation comes months after the Biden administration, in July, designated Tren de Aragua a significant transnational criminal organization.
In the first week of the immigration crackdown, a suspect described by a senior law enforcement source as a high-ranking member of the gang was arrested by federal agents in New York City. The White House on X touted the arrest in Atlanta on Monday of two members of the gang “illegally present in the U.S.”
And prosecutors in New York City on Wednesday announced the indictment of 10 alleged members and associates on gun trafficking charges.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE ON CNN
San Miguel Times
Newsroom
