The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against over 25 Tren de Aragua (TdA) prison gang members on Monday.
The charges were filed in five states, including Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, and Washington.
“This operation resulted in the seizure of more than 80 firearms and approximately 18 kilograms of drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, ketamine, MDMA, and Tusi,” according to a DOJ press release. “More than $100,000 in U.S. dollars was also seized.”
In a statement, FBI Director Kash Patel attributed this success to President Donald Trump’s decision last year to designate TdA a foreign terrorist organization, or FTO.
🚨 Joint Task Force Vulcan – 25+ alleged Tren de Aragua gang members charged after a nationwide @FBI op with our partners.
80 firearms, 18 kilos of narcotics, and more than $100,000 in cash seized.
Last year President Trump designated TdA as a terrorist organization – and… pic.twitter.com/cha0b7nG8O
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) May 11, 2026
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the historic Homeland Security Task Force model is making America safer than it’s been in generations – and we won’t stop until we root these criminal networks completely out of our communities,” Patel added in a statement to Fox News.
Originating in Aragua, Venezuela, the TdA prison gang was originally sanctioned as a transnational criminal organization by the Treasury Department (USDT) in 2024.
The USDT said in a statement at the time that TdA “is expanding throughout the Western Hemisphere and engaging in diverse criminal activities, such as human smuggling and trafficking, gender-based violence, money laundering, and illicit drug trafficking.”
Biden’s open border policies allow terrorists like Tren de Aragua to destroy our communities.
I’ve been calling for this for MONTHS & every day that passed, more Americans were put at risk. It’s time to make America safe again & shut the border down.https://t.co/iNeGpoknh4
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) July 11, 2024
Former Texas Rep. Tony Gonzalez, a Republican, previously described the gang as “MS-13 on steroids.”
“They’re extremely aggressive,” he told Fox News in 2024. “It’s not as if they’re a passive group or they want to quietly go about things.”
Gonzales further said that because of the way the gang is organized, they’ve become increasingly difficult to track in the United States. Likewise, they’ve become increasingly difficult to deport because the Venezuelan government isn’t accepting them back.
However, since Trump assumed office in 2025 and classified TdA as a terrorist organization, things have been easier.
“In a few days, the Justice Department and its partners on Joint Task Force Vulcan carried out a nationwide takedown of vicious Tren de Aragua terrorist networks — depraved, violent offenders who have illegally invaded our country and preyed upon American communities,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
“This effort underscores the Trump Administration’s dedication to restoring public safety, dismantling violent firearms and drug trafficking networks, and enforcing law and order,” he added.
Remember Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan criminal alien, Jose Ibarra, while jogging? The suspect’s brother, Diego Ibarra, had ties to TdA.
“The Ibarras, along with a third brother, were living in the U.S. illegally after crossing into the country through Texas and eventually making their way to the college town of Athens, Georgia,” according to Fox News.
Illegal migrant Diego Ibarra, the brother of Jose Ibarra – the illegal who murdered Laken Riley has ties to the violent Venezuela-prison gang Tren de Aragua, according to federal prosecutors.
Before Biden erased the southern border Tren de Aragua had no presence in the US. pic.twitter.com/EIlpfnhYfe
— The Conservative Read (@theconread) March 7, 2024
“Lots of people are fleeing economic persecution, and they’re looking for an opportunity,” Gonzales said in 2024. “But embedded in those people are lots of [criminals] who want to cause you harm. And don’t think for a second that that harm won’t happen to you because of wherever you live, or because you’ve never even met someone from Venezuela before. Doesn’t matter.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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