President Donald Trump claims that Venezuela has agreed to take back migrant gang members, including those representing the growing Tren de Aragua, in a post shared on his Truth Social account Saturday (February 1).
Trump’s announcement came hours after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro met with a Trump administration official, which led to the release of six Americans detained in the country being freed and the urging of Maduro to take back deported migrants who committed crimes in the U.S., the Associated Press reports.
“It is so good to have the Venezuela Hostages back home and, very important to note, that Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump wrote. “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back. We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back. Furthermore, record numbers of criminals are being removed from our Country, and the Border numbers are the strongest they have been since the First Term of the Trump Administration!”
Tren de Aragua is reported to have a presence in 17 U.S. states after at least one of its members was arrested in West Fargo, North Dakota, in November, the New York Post reports. An internal Homeland Security memo warned officials of the gang’s growing presence in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Montana and Wyoming after it already had already been present in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
The gang has also reportedly increased its “violent tendencies” as it grows larger in different areas, having previously engaged in “lower-level fraud and theft schemes,” which includes sending stolen funds “back to South America as a means of financing additional criminal enterprises,” according to the memo.
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