A violent Venezuelan gang that has committed crimes in multiple states in the U.S. is expanding across the country "like a slow growing cancer" and will impact the Americans "for decades," according to a new report by a conservative organization.
The Heritage Foundation is publishing an issue brief on Tren de Aragua, and how it has become the latest transnational criminal organization to establish itself in the U.S., a surge that coincided with the historic crisis at the southern border.
"During the past few years, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have been released or paroled into the United States, allowed to stay in Temporary Protected Status, or just slipped in without being encountered by authorities (the "gotaways")," the brief by Simon Hankinson and Erin Schniederjan, an early copy of which was obtained by Fox News Digital, says. "Blending among them are hundreds of members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), which, like all migrant gangs, begins by preying on its own countrymen."
The researchers say that Tren de Aragua began 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. They say the threat from TdA echoes the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, which arrived in the 1980s and is regularly linked to crimes throughout the country.
"TdA expanded its network by creating alliances with other gangs and moved into areas following the pattern of Venezuelan migration into the U.S.," they say.
The report quotes former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting Commissioner Mark Morgan, who oversaw a gang task force in the early 2000s targeting MS-13. His warning is stark, as he blames the rise of TdA on the current administration.
"Although MS-13 remains at the top of the list of the 50-plus different gangs from across the globe attempting to illegally enter our borders, the Biden–Harris Administration has intentionally provided the pathway for what could become MS-13 2.0," he says.
Comments