The Gangs Are All Here-Already
According to the FBI and Gang Intelligence units data, there are more than 25,000 organized gangs already established in the United States. Estimates from the US Department of Justice are upwards of 1,000,000 active gang members.
The US states with the most recorded gang incidents as of 2023, are: Nevada, California, New Mexico, New York, Idaho, Illinois, Georgia and Michigan. Chicago boasts the city with most gangs. Los Angeles, Detroit and Atlanta not far behind. Most of the gangs with repeated violent incidents and criminal arrests are long established groups.
However, in recent years gangs or bandas from Central and South America have made their way into the “land of opportunity” with impunity. The United States of America is now hosting the most ruthless and intractable criminal gangs.
One of them has been in the national news as of the past month because of terrorizing suburban businesses and neighborhoods. This savage group from Venezuela calls itself “Tren de Aragua”. Officials have nicknamed them a “Super Gang”.
The Tren de Aragua (Aragua train) gang/banda is named after the Venezuelan state of Aragua, where the gang originated. They evolved from a group of inmates who seized control of a local prison, then expanded to neighboring Colombia and Chile in 2018. They gained their vicious reputation because one of their “signatures” is dismembering their victims. From these countries their “train” moved north in a steady drive to the US border. One federal official described the gang as “MS-13 on steroids”.
With the US border open in the past few years, Tren de Aragua operatives converged north with the nearly 8 million Venezuelans fleeing Nicolas Maduro’s government. Their gang brand tattoos include images of bulls and the number “23” and images of trains. However, they usually hide their tattoos on their bodies and don’t tattoo on the face or neck.
Ammon Blair from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who is an expert on Tren de Aragua, explains that Tren de Aragua’s members have exploited the chaos at our southern border and the current administration’s “Lawful Pathways” programs to infiltrate the U.S. The challenge for CBP and U.S. law enforcement agencies is compounded by the difficulty in obtaining criminal histories from illegal aliens from Venezuela. The only way to obtain these criminal histories is from Interpol records or from records relating to prior criminal activity in the United States.”
Once inside the US, Tren de Aragua expanded quickly. Gang members sought refuge in Venezuelan communities within U.S. cities. They use intimidation and violence to prevent others from reporting their presence. They can blend in with the millions of Venezuelan migrants who have come into the U.S. Many people in the U.S.-Venezuelan communities will not report gang members’ criminal activity due to fears of reprisals and immigration issues.
Tren de Aragua began recruiting from within American migrant shelters, enlisting thousands for their drug trafficking, gun running, prostitution, snatch and run robbery teams which specifically target jewelry stores. They terrorized business owners, apartment complex managers and landlords. They took over entire blocks in suburbs and cities.
The gang infiltrated local law enforcement, courts, human resource departments and social services. They kidnap and murder for hire.
A few states are trying to stop the Tren de Aragua (TdA) before it gains a stronghold in their jurisdiction. Texas leadership put forward bold statements about their intended actions in 2024:
“The recent entry and expansion of the vicious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is a dangerous and deadly problem facing our state and nation,” said Governor Abbott. “Our top focus is the safety and security of all Texans. To address this looming threat, I have ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch a statewide operation directly targeting Tren de Aragua to deter and disrupt their criminal operation. I am also officially designating Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. Our goal is to defend Texas from the growing threat of the gang. We will not let them use Texas as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens. They have a target on their back, and we are going after them. Texas is the wrong state for them to try to do business in.”
Texas Governor Abbott called on VP Kamala Harris in October 2024, to officially declare the Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization, but to date Kamala Harris and her administration remain mute on this issue and the US border remains porous.
With such inaction, and leadership in the majority of states implementing policies of non-enforcement of immigration and criminal laws, the organized criminal networks and gangs worldwide see the USA virtually putting out a welcome mat with a clarion call to join us and “Come on over!”
Oh, and don’t think it is only the males who are in these gangs and who carry out violence. There are subgroups of many gangs who are females. They act in a variety of roles including decoys, enforcers, assassins, infiltrators, drug runners and recruiters. Watch this short video (click on the underlined text below) for a glimpse into this dark side of a number of international cartels, and national female gangs.
Do you think you can negotiate or bargain with these gangs if/when they decide to declare your assets or your neighborhood as part of their territory? I suggest you prepare for the worst, no matter what happens on November 6th in the USA.
