Texas Gov. Abbott designates Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist organization

09/22/2024 / By Laura Harris

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has officially designated the organized crime group Tren de Aragua (TdA) as a “foreign terrorist organization” in the Lone Star State.

During the Texas Department of Public Safety‘s (DPS) Southeast Texas Regional Headquarters press conference in Houston on Sept. 16, Abbott revealed a statewide plan to aggressively dismantle the operations of the TdA, a transnational organized crime group originating for Venezuela that has garnered a notorious reputation for brutal violence, murder and its involvement in a variety of illegal operations including human and sex trafficking, extortion and kidnappings. Abbott believes that all this poses a significant threat to the safety and security of Texans. (Related: Violent “Tren de Aragua” prison gang from Venezuela terrorizes, takes over El Paso hotel.)

“Today in Houston, I designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. Texas will aggressively target them to disrupt their criminal activities & deny their foothold in our state,” Abbott said in a post on his official account on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Texas is the wrong state for them to do business in.”

Moreover, Abbott promises that Texas officials will not allow the TdA to use the state as a base of operations by implementing harsh measures to thwart their expansion.

“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 Abbott. “Our top focus is the safety and security of all Texans. 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.”

As a response, Abbott directed the DPS to elevate TdA to a “Tier 1” gang status to ensure that the gang becomes a top priority for law enforcement. A dedicated “TdA Strike Team” will be established to identify and arrest gang members operating within the state.

In other words, this statewide operation will allow authorities to pursue legal actions through the courts to disrupt TdA’s criminal activities, seize gang assets and enforce tougher penalties against gang members during prosecution.

Texas connects rising TdA problem to open border policies of Biden-Harris administration

DPS Director Steve McCraw, Texas border czar Mike Banks and National Border Patrol Council Vice President Chris Cabrera joined Abbott during the press conference on Sept. 16. All three echoed the statements of Abbott regarding the TdA.

“Tren de Aragua gangsters are like cockroaches,” McCraw said. “They multiply quickly; small intrusions into communities become infestations if not aggressively pursued. These Venezuelan thugs are highly combative, violent, and certainly adaptable. They’re always involved in situations that first start with human smuggling. Then they are involved in the extortion, kidnappings, rape, assaults, and sex trafficking of migrants. Governor Abbott has made it very clear: We will not allow any of these gangsters to gain a foothold in Texas.”

Similarly, Cabrera said: “With this gang, they’re not like traditional MS-13s where you can see them coming a mile away with the crazy tattoos all over their faces. These guys fly under the radar. As a federal agent, we have no way of vetting these people other than the honor system. If they tell us their name, we can’t check against Venezuela’s database. It is an infestation that’s taking hold not just in Colorado or New York but in Michigan, Florida, Texas, you name it. If people don’t wake up and see it for what it is, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble in this country.”

Banks also blamed the open borders policies of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the influx of violent gang members in Texas.

“I want to be very clear: the Tren de Aragua problem in Texas and the rest of the United States is a direct result of open border policies, so there is no surprise that we have a criminal illegal gang problem in the United States, and thankfully, we’re addressing that. We have a strong Legislature that has given us many of the laws that the governor signed and we’re using to go after Tren de Aragua,” Banks said.

Head over to Violence.news for similar stories about migrant criminals.

Watch this clip of Oscar “El Blue” Ramirez being ambushed and mugged by MS-13 members while reporting.

This video is from the SecureLife channel on Brighteon.com.