U.S. Border Patrol reported that a man with no criminal record but tattoos associated with the Tren de Aragua Gang was arrested for attempting to cross into the United States unlawfully.
The man, who is a Venezuelan national, was arrested by agents in Ysleta, Texas, and found to have the tattoos of a gang known to be the “most powerful in Venezuela,” U.S. Border Patrol posted on April 5.
This post further states that the Tren de Aragua Gang is “known to participate in murder, drug trafficking, sex crimes, extortion, & other violent acts,” though it remains unclear what ties, if any, the Venezuelan national has to the gang.
Concerns about the prevalence of this gang prompted Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and other legislators to send a letter to President Joe Biden requesting that the gang be labeled as a “Transnational Criminal Organization.”
“Tren de Aragua is an invading criminal army from a prison in Venezuela that has spread their brutality and chaos to U.S. cities and small towns. If left unchecked, they will unleash an unprecedented reign of terror, mirroring the devastation it has already inflicted in communities throughout Central and South America, most prominently in Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. The breadth of Tren de Aragua’s operations encompasses murder, drug and human trafficking, sex crimes, extortion, and kidnapping, among other brutalities,” reads the letter.
The concern about members of the Tren de Aragua crossing into the United States comes as the country continues to deal with an influx of unlawful migrants entering through the southern border, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection reporting more than 7.5 million encounters with unlawful migrants since Biden took office in 2021.
Texas has made attempts to stop the flow of unlawful migrants into the country, but lawsuits with the federal government have limited the state’s ability to manage the crisis effectively. The Lone Star State is currently wrapped up in lawsuits regarding a floating barrier in the Rio Grande, concertina wire along the border, and a law that would make unlawfully crossing into the state a crime.
