The Department of Homeland Security is recommending more than 100 migrants that it has identified as having possible ties to a bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang be put on an FBI watchlist, Fox News confirmed Wednesday, after the agency flagged more than 600 with possible ties overall.
NBC News first reported that DHS has identified more than 600 individuals with possible ties to Tren de Aragua, and that 100 of those are deemed “subjects of interests.” Fox has confirmed that it recommended they be placed on the FBI’s Watchlist for Transnational Criminal Organizations.
Officials do not believe that all of the 600 migrants will be confirmed gang members, and that many will be relatives, victims or witnesses to crimes by the notorious gang members. Officials are making the gang a priority so it does not grow.
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The gang is believed to have started in the Tocoron prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua and has since expanded into Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the U.S. In a statement, DHS said that the identities emerged as part of an ongoing re-screening operation to tackle the gang.
“As a part of our work to counter TdA, DHS has an ongoing operation to crack down on gang members through re-screening certain individuals previously encountered, in addition to the rigorous screening and vetting at the border,” a DHS spokesperson said.
The agency said that those confirmed or suspected of being gang members will be either referred for prosecution or placed into expedited removal — a deportation process that allows for the quick removal of illegal immigrants.
The statement stressed that those identified in the re-screening “include those already in custody, potential victims or witnesses who are not themselves suspected of being TdA members, and others who may not have any involvement in TdA at all.”
There have been numerous crimes in the last year that have been linked to TdA, in states including Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Colorado and New York.
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The gang is believed to have taken over apartment blocks in Aurora, Colorado, and authorities in New York City have warned that the gang is recruiting children and is linked to dozens of robberies in the sanctuary city. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also sounded the alarm about the growth of the gang in his state.
Federal immigration authorities announced last week that a confirmed TdA member was arrested in Houston for allegedly recruiting middle school students to become new gang members.
But the gang’s presence has increased at the same time as a massive migration surge to the southern border, which included a significant number of Venezuelans. While border numbers have dropped sharply since June, the impact of that crisis is still being felt in communities across the U.S.
Experts noted to NBC that the number of identified members is low and could represent a gap in intelligence. Venezuela does not share its databases with the U.S., and relations are frosty. Earlier this year, Venezuela stopped accepting deportation flights from the U.S.
While authorities have put out warnings to Border Patrol agents about possible markers of the gang, they can be hard to identify, while others get past agents as gotaways.
TdA has become an issue in the presidential election as well. Former President Donald Trump announced recently that he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle “every illegal migrant criminal network operating on American soil.”
Trump said, if elected, the federal government would “send elite squads of ICE, Border Patrol and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has stressed her support for a bipartisan border security bill to provide additional funding to the border and has also highlighted her history targeting transnational criminal organizations as a federal prosecutor.
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