U.S. Customs Begins Tracking Criminal Activity by Venezuelan Tren de Aragua Gang
by CHRISTIAN K. CARUZO 23 May 2024
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced this week it would begin including the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua transnational criminal organization in its gang-affiliation apprehension reports.
According to the latest enforcement statistics report, CBP officials apprehended 41 individuals presumed to be affiliated with Tren de Aragua in Fiscal Year 2023 and an additional six during Fiscal Year 2024 to date. CPB noted that the FY2023 reporting of Tren de Aragua members began in March 2023 and not on October 1, 2022, the start of FY2023.
The apprehensions of Tren de Aragua members, since CBP began reporting them, were only surpassed in numbers by the apprehension of members of 18th Street, MS-13, the Paisas, the Sureños gangs, and the “other” gang category — placing Tren de Aragua sixth on a list of over 50 gangs CBP monitors.
The Tren de Aragua began as a local trade union organization in 2012 for workers associated with a local railway project in the eponymous state of Aragua. Over the past decade, Tren de Aragua experienced a rapid expansion that allowed it to turn into a full-fledged transnational crime organization that engages a wide array of activities ranging from homicide, theft, extortion, contraband, kidnapping, and drug, human, and arms trafficking.
The criminal organization has an active presence across several Latin American countries such as Chile and Peru, as well as several U.S. cities such as New York, Miami, and Chicago. FBI authorities suspect that Tren de Aragua members may have formed an alliance with the Salvadoran MS-13 gang in New York.
https://www.breitbart.com/latin-amer...e-aragua-gang/
