Members of the violent and brutal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua continue to arrive in the United States among the daily mobs of illegal immigrants. Venezuelans who have come to America fleeing the gang warn of Tren de Aragua’s brutal control of cities in their home country — and that American cities could suffer the same fate should their number continue to increase.
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The gang has an increasingly menacing presence in New York. They are behind many dozens of robberies, some of them operating on mopeds in teams, stealing purses and phones. The recent broad daylight attack on New York police officers in Times Square was perpetrated by members of the gang.
Their foothold — and their sadistic mayhem — is not limited to the Big Apple. The recent murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was perpetrated by a member. Five women were trafficked in Indianapolis at the hands of the gang. A retired police officer in Miami was strangled to death by one of its thugs.
Venezuelan immigrants in the Miami area continue to send extortion money to the gang back home to prevent harm to their relatives.
Immigration lawyer Ronaldo Vasquez said in an interview with Frontline: “the people we ran from in Venezuela, some very dangerous people, are coming through the border.”
Many Venezuelans speak anonymously for fear of deadly reprisals from the gang. One was quoted in the Post Millennial as saying that in Venezuela, the gang is “secretly in charge of attacking the civilian population.” They wield their power through fear, blackmail and threats of violence which they are absolutely capable of carrying out.
He characterized the gang in stark terms: “They don’t have any morals, or basic concept of respect for human life.”
Another warned of the capability of this gang to take over American cities in the same manner as they have done in Venezuela: “These are people who are really coming to threaten the national security of this country … They’ll start inconspicuously, and before you know it, they own the city, because the power they have is tremendous.”
The gang takes full advantage of the privileges given to Venezuelan immigrants by the Biden administration. The alleged perpetrators of the New York City police officer beating were released without bail. Democrats want to increase the number of migrants from Venezuela — which is certain to swell the ranks of Tren de Aragua members in America.
Founded around 2012, Tren de Aragua started as a prison gang in Venezuela and has a presence in Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. They sport distinctive train tattoos and Chicago Bulls gear and are thought to have over 5,000 members. The machete-wielding, 10,000-member Salvadoran gang MS-13 is known to be an ally, which multiples the threat to communities where they have a grip.
