by WorldTribune Staff, October 21, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
The violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has taken advantage of the Biden-Harris open southern border to infiltrate 10 American cities, a report said.
Gang members "have crept into the U.S. hidden among the one million Venezuelan migrants who have entered the country" during the Biden-Harris administration, DailyMail.com reported on Oct. 19.
Arrest data shared with DailyMail.com revealed that the tattooed gangsters are operating in even more U.S. cities than originally feared - with San Antonio, Texas being the latest hub of activity.
The gang has also infiltrated Houston, El Paso, and Dallas. Outside Texas, Tren de Aragua is operating in New York, Chicago, Stamford (Connecticut), Athens (Georgia), Aurora (Colorado), and Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin).
In March, Tren de Aragua members instigated a riot at the border in which a migrant mob overwhelmed Texas National Guard members, kicking and overpowering armed soldiers at the El Paso border crossing, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.
U.S. Border Patrol has reported that it prevented 64 confirmed gangsters from entering the country since March 2023.
But many Tren de Aragua members easily made it through the open border, evidenced by the fact that other federal agencies continue to take gang members off the streets, including the Oct. 11 arrest of a Venezuelan man wanted for murder by Homeland Security Investigations.
Many use El Paso as entry point and leave, but others "have stayed and even helped take control of the Gateway Hotel - a low budget place many of its guests use as a place to live," the DailyMail.com report said.
Officials in El Paso shut down the motel after they said it became a crime den controlled by the Venezuelan gang, with police responding to the property nearly 700 times in the last two years.
The U.S. first learned about Tren de Aragua when a video of armed men storming an apartment building in Aurora surfaced in late August.
While local leaders initially denied there was a gang problem in the Denver suburb, they later admitted the international crime ring had taken control of additional apartment complexes in the area.
DailyMail.com obtained city records where staffers admitted that Tren de Aragua "are in complete control" of three rental properties and claimed that many more than just three properties are victims of the "criminal infestation."
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The gang's violent reach in the U.S. has been downplayed by major media, with ABC's Martha Raddatz even insisting to GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance that the problem was limited to "a handful" of apartment complexes.
In San Antonio, law enforcement sources confirmed Tren de Aragua had been operating at the Palatia Apartments for five to six months, squatting in empty units they either rented out to other migrants, used as a base to deal cocaine or as prostitution dens to pimp out women and children.
DailyMail.com reported that "this apartment invasion is just the tip of the iceberg, with at least three additional rental properties also occupied by the criminal organization."
In New York City, the gang has been found to have taken part in cell phone thefts on mopeds, participated in thefts at stores, and have sold a pink, powdery drug known as Tusi, according to The New York Times.
As of September, the NYPD had officially identified 24 Tren de Aragua members in the five boroughs, with the department explaining individuals had to self-identify as being part of the criminal network in order to be counted.
"Do we think that there's only 24 TDA members in New York City? That would be silly," Chief Joseph Kenny told the publication. "Obviously there are more."
In the wealth New York City suburb of Stamford, a motel murder has been pinned on Tren de Aragua.
Gregory Marlyn Galindez-Trias, 24, and Moises Alejandro Condollo-Urbaneja, 22, have been accused of shooting Angel Samaniego, 59, at a Super 8 Hotel before fleeing the state, reported Fox News.
Investigators arrested them at a train station in upstate New York where they were traveling with their two children aged three and one.
"Our investigation revealed both parties are in this country illegally from Venezuela," Rensselaer Police Chief Warren Famiglietti told the network. "Both parties are believed to be affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela."
In Athens, Georgia, the man accused of killing nursing college student Laken Riley has also been linked to Tren de Aragua.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is charged in the death of the Riley, 22, who was beaten to death while out running on the University of Georgia campus in February.
Ibarra's brother, Diego, 29, is also suspected of being a Tren de Aragua member and while he is not charged in Riley's death, he is accused of green card fraud which he allegedly used to get a job in Athens.
In the small Wisconsin town of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, police said they are "confident" a Tren de Aragua member beat and sexually assaulted a woman in September.
Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26 of Venezuela, found his way to Prairie du Chien, about two hours outside of Madison, when he went to spend time with the woman he later assaulted.
Coronel Zarate also had warrants through Dane County for strangulation/suffocation, false imprisonment, battery, and disorderly conduct, according to investigators.
"Based on our investigation, we can confirm that Coronel Zarate entered the United States in September of 2023 at or near the El Paso point of entry," police said.
Tren de Aragua has been operating in Chicago since October 2023, according to NewsNation.
Described as a "new threat developing amongst the newly arriving immigrant community," gang members have blended in with thousands of Venezuelans who have made the Windy City their final destination.
