A vicious Venezuelan gang that attracted attention for a spike of violence in Colorado this summer now has a presence in 16 states, according to a new report.
A memo from the Department of Homeland Security last week sent out an internal memo warning that the Tren de Aragua gang had expanded into Washington, D.C., Virginia, Montana, and Wyoming, according to the New York Post.
The gang was already active in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
This summer, residents of Aurora, Colorado, reported that some apartment complexes were completely under the thumb of gang members.
The DHS memo said that where illegal immigrants from Venezuela go, gang activity follows.
🚨BREAKING: Newly released video shows armed gang of Venezuelan illegals take over apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.
Aurora, a quiet community with a population of 390,000 has become a base of operations for the brutal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which already has… pic.twitter.com/mNW8FF5mXa
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) August 28, 2024
Tren de Aragua’s activity in Virginia and Washington, D.C. came after “increases in migrant populations” there.
“As the population of Venezuelan nationals continues to increase, the potential for violent TdA migrants is highly probable,” the memo said.
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The memo said Washington is a prime location because of access to northern Virginia communities where gang members can carry out robberies and assaults.
The memo warned of the gang’s “lower-level fraud and theft schemes,” in which stolen cash goes “back to South America as a means of financing additional criminal enterprises.”
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said the gang is active in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga.
“They go from human trafficking to organized retail crime theft, and then they move into the drug trade, taking on the cartels in very violent, bloody battles that they’ve had,” Rausch said.
Former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Wes Tabor said the gang is unique, according to the Associated Press.
“What sets this group apart is the level of violence. They’re aggressive. They’re hungry, and they don’t know any boundaries because they’ve been allowed to spread their wings without any confrontation from law enforcement until now,” he said.
House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee said the outgoing Biden administration bears much of the blame for the gang’s spread across America.
“From day one, the Biden-Harris administration willfully and intentionally threw our borders wide open, gutted interior enforcement, and signaled to the criminal cartels and transnational gangs that they would be able to take advantage of our country with impunity,” Green said in a statement on his website.
“This violent and sadistic gang, Tren de Aragua, is now operating in Tennessee and destabilizing our communities. This is the consequence of President Biden, Vice President Harris, and now-impeached DHS Secretary Mayorkas’ destructive open-borders policies,” he said, adding, “As Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, I will enthusiastically support the incoming Trump-Vance administration’s agenda to restore order at our borders, revamp interior enforcement, and bring safety back to our communities.”
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