Members of the Venezuelan migrant gang Tren de Aragua are reportedly mobbing border crossings and attacking guards in an effort to break into the U.S. prior to President-elect Donald Trump‘s inauguration, according to a Texas law enforcement memo obtained by the New York Post.
The Texas Department of Public Safety memo stated that 20 Tren de Aragua members reported to be armed with blades, tire irons and broken liquor bottles, forced their way into the U.S. at a border gate, with another wave expected for New Year’s Day. The migrants are reportedly becoming more desperate to gain access to the U.S. before Trump re-takes office, according to Victor Avila, a retired agent for Homeland Security Investigations.
“You’re seeing that violence at the border because they know that it’s going to change in 27 days. It’s going to change. It’s going to be different, and they’re going to be sought after,” Avila told the New York Post.
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. Henry Theis, 25, who was previously based in Dallas, was charged with felony theft after initially being pulled over for a broke taillight. 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. In November, Tom Homan, who Trump named as the border czar, said the upcoming administration has a lot of leverage to force Venezuela to start accepting deportations, which would include threatening more sanctions and withholding aid totaling $209 million last year.
“He got El Salvador to take back MS-13, he got Mexico to agree to the Remain in Mexico program. So I got faith in President Trump to work with the president of Venezuela,” Homan said via the New York Post.
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