Blaze News investigates: Vicious Venezuelan gang expands transnational crime empire by exploiting US open-border policies

The Biden-Harris administration's open-border policies have worked as a magnet, attracting foreign nationals from all over the globe — both friendly and hostile — to cross illegally into the United States. Worse, the combination of limited federal resources and liberal sanctuary jurisdictions means that illegal immigrants who successfully reach this country are not in danger of being sent back to their country of origin anytime in the near future.

While the Biden-Harris administration's border crisis has caused many issues nationwide, arguably the most concerning consequence of the federal government’s open-borders policy is the flow of organized crime elements from central American countries into the U.S.

These dangerous networks, including the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, have infiltrated the country in unknown numbers, either by slipping into ports of entry undetected, making unverified asylum claims at designated entry points, or utilizing another one of the Biden-Harris administration's dubious expanded "legal pathways."

Over the past year, a number of violent crimes in cities across the U.S. have been linked to TDA members, igniting fears that the group is actively working to expand its transnational criminal empire on U.S. soil.

TDA spreads violence and mayhem

Tren de Aragua, Spanish for "Aragua Train," was originally a prison gang that got its start more than a decade ago as a railroad labor union in Aragua, Venezuela.

Andrew R. Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy with the Center for Immigration Studies, told Blaze News that TDA's first criminal enterprise involved extorting businesses in Venezuela and grew to human trafficking, targeting individuals as they fled the country.

"From there, they basically spread where the migrants went," Arthur said, which "has been throughout South America and, more recently, to the United States."

Arthur described the TDA as a "particularly violent," "powerful," and "influential criminal organization." He added, "It's very difficult to compare them with gangs that we're better familiar with, like MS-13."

‘Deadly criminal threat across the region.’

The growth of TDA’s impact in America has been both rapid and shocking. Five years ago, almost no one in America had even heard of the gang. Now, however, it is causing havoc across the U.S., where it has already been linked to more than 100 criminal investigations, according to a June NBC News report.

So far, the largest criminal bust in the U.S. tied to the TDA involved an extensive human trafficking operation out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In May, the Department of Homeland Security arrested three TDA gang members who were accused of tracking down illegal immigrant women shortly after they entered the country. They allegedly flew them from Texas to Louisiana, where the women were forced into prostitution to pay off smuggler debt. If they refused, the gang members allegedly claimed they would murder their family members in Venezuela.

Diego Ibarra, the brother of Laken Riley's alleged murderer, Jose, also has suspected ties to TDA.

John Fabbricatore, a retired ICE Denver field office director and current Republican congressional candidate for Colorado's 6th District, told Blaze News that TDA has spread to parts of Colorado — and worse, that local law enforcement is refusing to report gang members to ICE.

TDA doesn’t just consist of immigrants who joined the gang prior to arriving in the U.S. Rather, TDA has been hard at work recruiting illegal immigrants who are already here, and the gang appears to have had particular success in New York, with disastrous results.

Earlier this year, a mob of illegal aliens outside a New York City shelter was captured on surveillance camera punching and kicking two NYPD officers. Customs and Immigration Enforcement later revealed that at least two of the men accused of assaulting the officers were members of TDA.

Just last month, a 19-year-old TDA member and Venezuelan national, who illegally entered the U.S., was accused of shooting two New York Police Department officers — fortunately, both officers survived the attack. After his arrest, the suspect allegedly revealed to authorities that TDA members were "smuggling firearms into city shelter inside food delivery packages." He claimed that those deliveries are not required to go through metal detectors.

‘TdA giving a 'green light' to fire on or attack law enforcement.’

The escalation of TDA’s activity here in the United States has led a number of law enforcement agencies, both federal and local, to issue bulletins warning about the dangers presented by the gang.

Last month, the administration's Department of the Treasury sanctioned TDA as a transnational criminal organization, cautioning that the group has "quickly expanded throughout the Western Hemisphere in recent years."

"With a particular focus on human smuggling and other illicit acts that target desperate migrants, the organization has developed additional revenue sources through a range of criminal activities, such as illegal mining, kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, and the trafficking of illicit drugs such as cocaine and MDMA," the Biden-Harris Treasury Department reported. "Tren de Aragua poses a deadly criminal threat across the region."

The Department of Homeland Security also noted in a leaked internal memo obtained by the New York Post that members have been given the "green light" to attack police.

The intel, reportedly gathered by the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico, warned, "Credible human sources from Colorado provided information on TdA giving a 'green light' to fire on or attack law enforcement."

"As you may know, we have a TdA presence here in Chicago, so please be vigilant as you encounter TdA members or affiliates during your investigative and operational activities," the leaked memo reportedly read.

The criminal activity caused by gang members in New York City prompted the NYPD Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau to submit an advisory alert to the New York State National Guard to be on the lookout for individuals with gang-affiliated tattoos. The state's National Guard troops have been assigned patrol duties at illegal immigrant shelters.

The NYPD has referred to TDA members as "ghost criminals" because there is little information available to identify them other than gang tattoos, including five-pointed crowns, clocks, AK-47 rifles, and trains.

Biden-Harris' 'lawful pathways' draws more Venezuelans to US

The Biden-Harris administration has spent three years expanding so-called "lawful pathways," attracting more foreign nationals to the U.S. The combination of progressive policies on a federal and local level has fueled the illegal immigration crisis facing the nation today.

Arthur told Blaze News that TDA was able to gain a foothold in the U.S. as the number of Venezuelans crossing into the country increased.

While more than seven million — and counting — Venezuelans have left their home country under the socialist regimes of former President Hugo Chávez and current President Nicolás Maduro, most of those nationals fled to nearby countries. After the Biden-Harris administration took office, more Venezuelans started heading for the U.S.

In fiscal year 2021, CBP encountered more than 50,000 Venezuelan nationals, according to the agency’s dashboard. In 2023, that number jumped to over 330,000 — a 583% increase. CBP’s nationwide encounters dashboard does not allow for comparisons between the current Biden-Harris administration’s reporting and previous administrations’ statistics. However, older reports are buried on the website, which revealed fewer than 4,000 nationwide apprehensions of Venezuelan nationals from fiscal year 2017 through 2020.

‘Our vetting ability is only as good as the information that we have.’

Arthur explained that the Biden-Harris administration responded to the mass exodus of Venezuelans from their home country by granting Venezuelan nationals Temporary Protected Status, which only attracted more arrivals to the U.S.

The federal government also incentivizes Venezuelan migration through its CHNV process, which allows 30,000 individuals per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela — as well as their immediate family members — to relocate to the U.S.

Other foreign nationals wishing to enter the country have utilized the Customs and Border Protection's CBP One app, which allows individuals to schedule an appointment at a port of entry to make an asylum claim.

These Biden-Harris programs have allowed the administration to potentially reduce the number of individuals showing up at the southern border, thereby reducing CBP encounter reports and giving the illusion less mass immigration is happening.

Arthur explained that the "biggest issue" with these expanded pathways is that the U.S. lacks the ability to properly vet foreign nationals coming into the country.

"The Venezuelan government is openly hostile to the United States," Arthur told Blaze News. "They don't have any interest in sharing the criminal histories of individuals who are showing up at the southwest border or who are applying for CHNV with this country. Therefore, we only have the limited information that we have in our own databases."

Additionally, Arthur noted that there is "very little visibility into either CBP One or into CHNV."

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, applicants must “undergo and clear robust security vetting.” Beyond providing biographic and biometric information, it is unclear what those vetting processes entail.

"The Biden-Harris administration promises that there's thorough vetting of those individuals, and yet we have no idea what that thorough vetting can be," Arthur noted. "Our vetting ability is only as good as the information that we have. When it comes to Venezuela, we have very little background information on these individuals at all."

With the current administration's attempts to expand pathways for Venezuelan nationals to migrate to the U.S., it stands to reason that TDA gang members could be exploiting these programs and slipping through the cracks.

Arthur told Blaze News, "And right now, the border situation is what we refer to as a 'baited field.' It's rich for the pickings for any well-organized criminal organization — which TDA plainly is — to exploit."

On Friday, Fox News Digital reported that the administration decided to pause the CHNV program in mid-July following a report indicating significant amounts of fraud in applications submitted by beneficiaries’ sponsors. To be eligible for the program, beneficiaries must have a sponsor already residing in the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security told the news outlet that it halted the program "out of an abundance of caution" while it reviews the applications. The DHS insists that beneficiaries are "thoroughly screened and vetted before their arrival to the United States."

How many TDA members are in the US?

With the long list of unlawful offenses tied to the transnational criminal organization, it raises the question: How many TDA gang members have already infiltrated America? And the answer is: No one knows.

NewsNation network correspondent Ali Bradley recently reported that "more than 1,000 known" TDA members are currently in the country. Since October, Border Patrol agents have reportedly encountered 70 TDA members.

‘Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better.’

National Border Patrol Council Vice President Art Del Cueto told Blaze News that confirmed numbers, such as this, likely only include those who have either been apprehended or have confirmed ties to someone else within the gang.

"To actually know a number of how many are in, there is absolutely zero way to find out," Del Cueto stated, noting that there have been close to two million gotaways this year alone.

The number of reported gotaways is also "a guesstimate because there's no way to know how many actually have gotten away," he added. Del Cueto explained that the reported gotaway numbers could further be skewed because much of CBP's boots-on-the-ground resources have been reallocated to administrative roles to assist with the unprecedented processing of asylum requests.

"That has limited the amount of agents that are actually in the field to apprehend these types of individuals, and at the same time, limited the amount of agents that are able to give you a proper number of how many could possibly have gotten away," he continued.

"The scary part is there's no telling how far their reach has gone because there's no way to actually tell how many of them have entered the country," Del Cueto said, referring to TDA members.

Leaders slam progressive policies for enabling TDA's violent takeover

While TDA has presumably expanded its operations to many cities across the nation, its growing presence in New York City is perhaps the most apparent, with ties to a litany of criminal activities, including everything from moped phone thefts to attempted murder.

New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R) told Blaze News that TDA has "taken root" in the city, and it was "entirely predictable."

"We actually began seeing alarming gang activity by these Latin American gangs even before the current crisis, but it was ignored by the media and most politicians. I met with members of the NYPD gang squad around 2021, and they were crystal clear about the direction we were headed," Paladino explained. "At the time, the progressives on our Council were actually pushing hard to erase the city's gang database, which would have made anti-gang enforcement completely impossible. Luckily we were able to hold them off, but nothing was stopping the flood of criminal illegals into the city."

Paladino said that the gang members "have no fear," and she expressed concern that "things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better." She told Blaze News that TDA members "openly target police officers, their families, women, children, anyone at all."

‘Now they're actively recruiting in our streets.’

She noted that in New York City, at least, the gang is currently "testing their limits — seeing how much they can get away with" and not facing any consequences or "finding any limits" due to the state's "almost completely dismantled" criminal justice system.

"The scary fact is that we're just not ready. Our police are fighting with one hand tied behind their back, because our progressive-dominated political environment still refuses to even recognize the threat, much less give us the tools to stop it," Paladino added.

New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R) told Blaze News that the city needs to immediately abandon its sanctuary policies, which prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agents, further exacerbating the issue of gang violence.

Vernikov warned, "Don't be surprised when these gangs start running our city if we stay on this trajectory."

"This is exactly what all of us — at least those on the side of common sense — warned would happen when the nation allowed unmitigated illegal immigration and our city emboldened them by establishing sanctuary city status," Vernikov said. "Now they're actively recruiting in our streets and the NYPD have been effectively handcuffed and barred from effective crime stopping."

New York City Councilman Joseph Borelli (R) also pointed blame at the city's sanctuary policies for the increase in criminal activity.

"This just proves that when we talk about our sanctuary city policy barring law enforcement cooperation, the only beneficiaries are the criminals. Even other migrants should support changing this as they are often the victims of violent crimes in the shelters," Borelli told Blaze News.

On the other side of the country, Colorado's sanctuary policies are hindering ICE's ability to locate and detain members of the criminal organization, Fabbricatore told Blaze News.

"Such policies inadvertently create a breeding ground for gang activities, allowing criminal elements like Tren de Aragua to grow and operate with minimal resistance. It is imperative for the safety and security of our communities that we re-examine these sanctuary policies and enhance our efforts to combat gang-related activities," he said.

Del Cueto told Blaze News, "This administration spent three years denying that there was a problem. And now it's obviously extremely chaotic, and there is no way to pinpoint the actual numbers."

Del Cueto stated that law enforcement positions have "always been a dangerous job," but the situation has worsened because criminals know they are unlikely to face consequences under the current administration's leadership."

"This isn't new with these gangs coming inside. There's way too many coming inside," Del Cueto remarked. "Americans need to realize: You need to pressure lawmakers to have actual consequences for these individuals that are already here when they commit crimes."

"At the same time, pressure lawmakers to do the right thing. The gang members that are coming into the country, the people that are committing these crimes — they do not care what side of the aisle people are. They just want to come in here, further and grow their criminal enterprise and at the cost of American lives, regardless of what side of the aisle those Americans are at," Del Cueto added.