Surveillance photos, Gateway Hotel, El Paso County Attorney’s Office

From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley 

Of the more than 14 million illegal border crossers reported under the Biden administration, an unknown number of violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua prison gang members illegally entered the country.

Now, police records and official law enforcement statements confirm TdA-linked crime and arrests have occurred in 22 U.S. states.

They include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. TdA activity also has been reported in the District of Columbia.

TdA is known for violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking and are linked to more than 100 law enforcement investigations nationwide. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is currently looking for 600 suspected TdA members and “subjects of interest” illegally in the U.S., NBC News reported.

While TdA is likely operating in nearly all U.S. states, local police reports and official public statements have yet to confirm this. Federal and state agencies have issued bulletins to law enforcement partners on how to identify TdA members.

In the West: TdA members have been arrested in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, The Center Square reported. In New Mexico, federal agents arrested TdA fugitives wanted for capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Texas.

Multiple crimes have been committed by illegal border crossers in California, including residential burglaries allegedly committed by Colombians and Chileans involved in a South American theft group (SATG), The Center Square reported. While several social media reports appear to confuse TdA with SATG, police reports have yet to confirm TdA affiliation with SATG crimes.

Border Patrol and other federal agents in Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico and Texas continue to arrest TdA and other violent gang members.

In the Midwest: TdA members were arrested for violent crimes in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin, with law enforcement officers in Ohio involved in a multi-state ATM theft investigation, The Center Square reported.

TdA members were arrested this year for the first time in North and South Dakota and in Missouri, prompting state and federal lawmakers to demand answers and introduce legislation, The Center Square exclusively reported.

In Gulf states: TdA members have been arrested in Texas and Louisiana. In Louisiana, they’re tied to a multi-state sex trafficking operation involving smuggling women into the U.S., holding them in stash houses in Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, and forcing them into prostitution, authorities found, The Center Square reported.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott declared TdA a foreign terrorist organization and state and local law enforcement are actively working to target and eliminate them in multiple operations.

TdA crime in Texas is linked to a multi-state investigation into an ATM bank robbery scheme, sex trafficking rings and other violent crimes.

In the Southeast: TdA members were arrested in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, charged with multiple felonies. In North Carolina, law enforcement officers arrested a TdA lieutenant and fugitive wanted by Interpol on terrorism related charges. In Tennessee, TdA members were arrested in a sex trafficking ring operating in multiple states. Tennesee’s attorney general argues federal agents are releasing “murderers and rapists from its migrant detention facilities onto American streets,” The Center Square reported.

In the Northeast: TdA members were arrested in New Jersey and New York for a slew of violent crimes, including a recent murder in Connecticut. Arrests are for multiple felonies including fugitives wanted in their home countries, The Center Square reported.

Several on social media appear to confuse SATF with TdA. Some claim SATG robberies targeting NFL and NBA players in Michigan and Minnesota are TdA when no confirmed TdA arrests have been reported.

Although TdA has established a stronghold in Colombia, Chile and Peru, authorities have yet to confirm TdA affiliation when making SATG announcements. Many investigations are ongoing and SATG culprits remain at large.

SATG operatives target wealthy neighborhoods, burglarize homes and quickly leave the scene. TdA operatives entrench themselves in migrant communities, perpetrate human trafficking, forced prostitution, aggravated assault and murder, among other violent crimes.

The underlying commonality is they illegally entered the U.S. under the Biden administration and are identified as top targets for removal by the Trump administration.