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--:-- John Bickley: A violent Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua is now operating in multiple U.S. states. Members are believed to have entered the country illegally over the past three years, taking advantage of the disorder at our southern border. The group recently made national news for seizing control of an apartment building in Colorado and another in Chicago, prompting President Trump to sound the alarm.
--:-- John Bickley: You see the gang of Venezuelans today? They took over a building. They literally took over the building, walked in with machine guns, guns, gang members from Venezuela. You haven't seen even the beginning of this migrant crime. And just remember, you know, they have a hat. It said Trump was right about everything. And I have to say, I pretty much was right about everything. You're going to see, unfortunately, unfortunately, I wish I wasn't. I wish I wasn't.
--:-- John Bickley: In this episode, we take a closer look at the growing chaos caused by the gang in American communities. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's September 7th, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
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--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss the escalating Trend de Aragua presence in the U.S. is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short. Hey, Ash. So this group is getting a lot more attention in recent weeks for several very disturbing developments.
--:-- Ash Short: Well, the gang is called Trend de Aragua and is reportedly a threat to the more well-known Salvadoran gang MS-13. The gang took this name about a decade ago, but had been operating long before then. It originated in a notorious Venezuelan prison controlled by the founding members of the gang and in 2015 they teamed up with another Brazilian gang and began extending their operation throughout South America and eventually north to the U And we're only recently learning about its operations here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. While the gang has been linked to some high-profile crimes recently, it's reportedly operating quietly in many communities across the U.S. A few weeks ago, videos of armed gang members attempting to force their way into an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, went viral. The situation became so bad that residents have chosen to move. And one video shows the measures one woman now takes to lock up her apartment for the night to keep gang members from kicking in the door. Aurora police have denied claims that the apartment was taken over, but they do acknowledge that there is an issue.
--:-- Ash Short: So what we're seeing now is Tren de Aragua governing and controlling apartment complexes, not just one, but it's actually multiple complexes there in the city. So now that we've imported millions of people into the United States, and that along with that over, well, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans into the country, the Tren de Aragua has followed the migration pipelines into every one of our communities. So this is not going to be just an Aurora, Colorado problem. It's not going to be a Dallas-Villas problem. It's going to be every area where there's an enclave of Venezuelan immigrants. And that's where Dren de Aragua is going to start from. And then they're just going to expand their operations from there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the gang has reportedly given the green light for its members to open fire on law enforcement. And Aurora Mayor Mike Kaufman said last week that the crimes have become a nightmare situation. He also admitted that the city has lost control and is, quote, working aggressively to get it back. And just this week, across the country in Chicago, a group of nearly three dozen armed Venezuelans stormed an apartment building, according to a 911 call about the incident. 31 person with a gun, 6124 South King Drive. Caller says 32 Venezuelans are trespassing the building, showing guns in the courtyard, and they have motorcycles in the courtyard as well. When police arrived two hours later, the armed migrants were gone. Still 30 armed gang members on motorcycles has got to be terrifying for residents.
--:-- Ash Short: How many members are believed to be operating here in the U.S.? There are an estimated 5,000 members total, but we don't really know how many are in the country. We do know, though, that a huge number of Venezuelans are migrating to the U.S. More than 330,000 Venezuelans crossed into the U.S. last year. We don know much about their criminal background because Venezuela and some other countries don provide criminal history information to Border Patrol There also been recent discussion largely prompted by Donald Trump speeches about the crime rate in Venezuela dropping in recent years and whether that is due to their criminals coming to America in the form of gang members They're pouring in and many of them are the worst people in those countries and their crime rates are going way down. And in Venezuela, their crime rate has gone plummeted because they're sending their killers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, experts who talked to the media said there wasn't evidence this was actually happening. But they also couldn't say it was impossible. Here's what Mr. Blair said about the issue. Venezuela last year, they claimed that they went into the Tocoron prison to wipe out the leadership of Treni de Aragua. They sent in 11,000 of their military and law enforcement. And it was just all for show. At the end of the day, what ended up happening was the leadership was released and the other prisoners were just transferred to other prisons. So that report is actually on our U.S. Southern Command's media page to include the people that are currently tracking it.
--:-- Ash Short: Now, one of the NGOs that U.S. Southern Command was working with in order to get this information, They just put out another statement in May of this year showing that the reason why Venezuela is claiming that their criminal activity inside their country is decreasing is because the military-aged males that belong to Tren de Aragua are following the migrant pipelines into the United States. They're going to follow where they can receive the most money, and that is going to be the United States. So when people state that Venezuelan released their prisons and they're releasing their criminals, I mean, I guess it kind of is like a half-truth. They went in and they allowed the leadership to leave. And since 2021, around 800,000 Venezuelans have tried to cross the southern border, with more coming each year. There were 50,500 in fiscal year 2021, but that surged to more than 330,000 by fiscal year 2023. and Venezuelans have become the majority of illegal immigrants arriving in Chicago, New York, and Denver, which has prompted even Democrat politicians in those cities to express concern.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Victor Menjares, former Border Patrol chief who now teaches about gang violence, told a local El Paso reporter that TDA have already set up across the U.S. He also says they are worse than MS-13. They're in big cities. They're like places in Chicago, Miami, New York City, L.A. Generally, these type of gangs don't really stop at El Paloza, but it's something we should continue to keep an eye out because I believe that this gang will ultimately be much more violent than MS Now when the U tries to deport someone from Venezuela the country refuses to take them back Under a 2023 deal with Biden administration Mexico agreed to take 30 illegal immigrants from Venezuela and other Central American countries monthly But more than 30,000 illegal immigrants are entering the U.S. most months. Right.
--:-- Ash Short: Also last year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would actually provide about 472,000 Venezuelans who came to the U.S. illegally protected status, allowing them to easily get work in the U.S. Democrat politicians in sanctuary cities and states reportedly made the request due to the increased burden these illegal immigrants were having on their economy. Yeah. Is there any way to get an accurate number of how many crimes are being committed by these gang members? Not really. And that's by design. The data set used by the FBI to track cartel-related crimes is extremely limited. And there are several challenges in collecting such data, including a lack of a clear definition as to what constitutes a cartel-related crime, variation in reporting practices, and the reluctance of victims who fear retaliation or deportation. Yeah.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, it was a Venezuelan national that killed the nursing student in Georgia. Is that correct? Right. Jose Ibarra is the man who killed Laken Riley, and he is reportedly a member of Trende Aragua. The gang was also responsible for a shooting injuring two police officers in June in New York. Is the Biden administration doing anything to counteract these gangs? Not really. But some Republicans are trying to force some action. In March, Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to President Joe Biden demanding he formally designate the vicious gang as a transnational criminal organization. writing, quote, And Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez also warned about the gang at a homeland security meeting in April. These Venezuelan gangs, they're growing in influence. They're growing in criminal activity throughout the country. And I believe there are significant threats to our homeland.
--:-- Ash Short: Amid all these headlines over the last two weeks, President Biden was largely on vacation. At the same time, Vice President Harris is out campaigning, leading many people to ask what exactly the administration is doing in response to these alarming incidents. In the end, the numbers don't lie. The administration has allowed the explosion of illegal immigrants, including thousands of gang members, to enter the country, while many sanctuary cities have allowed them to get released on bail when they commit crimes. Definitely a frightening situation that could come to any city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ash, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Ash Short: You're welcome.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short, and this has been a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
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