The U.S. is collaborating with a specialized team to track Venezuelan gang members, particularly linked to the Tren de Aragua gang. This group provided intelligence on 1,800 gang members, including paramilitary-trained individuals sent to various states. Their activities pose a grave threat to national security, necessitating urgent responses from the U.S. government amid ongoing critiques of immigration policies surrounding Venezuelan migrants.

The U.S. is monitoring suspected Venezuelan gang members, particularly from the Tren de Aragua gang, with assistance from a group of Venezuelans and former U.S. officials. This team has provided vital intelligence to the Trump administration regarding gang identities and numbers, including a presentation that outlined connections between Tren de Aragua and Nicolás Maduro’s regime, along with documentation identifying around 1,800 gang affiliates believed to have entered the U.S.

Among those identified were 300 gang members reportedly trained in paramilitary tactics in Venezuela, as stated by Gary Berntsen, a former CIA station chief. He revealed that they were taught various methods, including using crypto and executing sabotage, and were subsequently deployed across 20 different states in the United States.

The team’s findings also included evidence that these gang members were aided by Venezuelan intelligence services, with organized logistics facilitating their entry into major U.S. cities. Sources suggested that the presence of Tren de Aragua is a calculated asymmetric warfare operation against the United States, rather than acts of spontaneous crime.

Tren de Aragua was tasked with establishing drug distribution networks to capitalize on the weakening of other gangs, such as MS-13, creating a detrimental impact on public safety. The research team has successfully provided the administration with information that led to the identification and detention of up to 800 gang affiliates linked to Tren de Aragua.

Documents shared with the administration included the names and photos of alleged gang members, many of whom had been released from Venezuelan prisons under conditions that compelled them to leave the country. An estimated 5,000 gang members might eventually be settled across the United States, posing significant threats to national security. According to Berntsen, this organization resembles a large-scale military unit capable of orchestrating widespread violence and criminal activity.

Initial investigations into this threat began under the Trump administration; however, the emergence of similar threats has gone largely unaddressed by the Biden administration. Emphasizing the urgency of the situation, Berntsen stated, “These are bad people. But we’re not going to just f—ing watch them take over our country.”

Tren de Aragua evolved from Venezuela’s prisons and has become intertwined with the Soles drug cartel, allegedly linked directly to Maduro. The gang’s violent reputation is reflected in recent unrest across Latin America, including a state of emergency declared in Peru due to rising crime attributed to Venezuelan gangs.

The gang’s escalation into the United States has been facilitated through organized routes, often using clandestine transportation methods from Venezuela to the U.S. The documentation provided to U.S. agencies has been critical in identifying illegal entrants masquerading under false identities.

President Trump has responded to these developments by pledging to deport gang members, asserting that they pose significant national security risks. His administration’s stance has faced criticism from various humanitarian groups, which argue that these measures unfairly target all Venezuelan migrants rather than focusing on individuals with documented criminal backgrounds.

The intelligence team underscored the gang’s criminal diversification, emphasizing their illicit activities ranging from trafficking narcotics to conducting kidnappings and extortion. The organizational structure of Tren de Aragua allows for recruiting unsanctioned members across U.S. cities, amplifying their criminal networks throughout the continent, particularly as these operations are intimately linked to the Soles cartel’s leadership.

The collaboration between former U.S. officials and Venezuelan sources has proven vital in tracking and apprehending members of the Tren de Aragua gang posing a distinct threat to U.S. security. This gang’s linkage to the Maduro regime, alongside their operations spanning drug trafficking and violent crimes, underscores an urgent need for responsive governmental action. The situation remains precarious as U.S. authorities continue to devise strategies to mitigate the impact of these gangs, with larger implications for national safety and immigration policy.

Original Source: www.miamiherald.com

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