A violent South American gang’s rise in the United States continued to frustrate border officials on the lookout for identifying tattoos and other signs as “gotaway” numbers increased.
From a mob assaulting New York’s Finest in Times Square to a Georgia nursing student getting killed while on a run, President Joe Biden’s illegal alien policies have continued to imperil American citizens. The alleged responsibility of foreign nationals wasn’t the only unifying factor as a source from U.S. Customs and Border Protection detailed how the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) was increasingly on their radar.
Sharing images from an internal CBP intelligence bulletin that depicted numerous tattoos said to be gang identifiers of TdA, Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin wrote on X, “Both CBP source & an ICE source expressed frustration that these Venezuelan gang members are extremely difficult to deport because Venezuela won’t take their citizens back right now. They can be removed to Mexico, but I’m told they typically then re-enter the U.S. illegally as a ‘gotaway.'”
NEW: CBP source provided an internal CBP intelligence bulletin revealing tattoos/identifiers for Tren De Aragua, the Venezuelan prison gang that has been entering the U.S. illegally through the southern border.
Both CBP source & an ICE source expressed frustration that these… pic.twitter.com/Vnd13Z4y2Q— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 7, 2024
Crediting a source from ICE who said, “We have a ton of Venezuelans that we can’t get rid of,” Melugin continued, “Reminder: According to ICE & CBP data, in fiscal year 2023, there were 335,000 encounters with Venezuelans at the border, but only 834 Venezuelans were deported. Venezuela is currently not taking any removal flights from the U.S.”
Tattoo examples included a train, a grenade, a rifle, and a character depicted with a backward ball cap and a gas mask with the caption “REALG4LIFE” among others.
As had been reported, the Venezuelan national Jose Ibarra, alleged to have killed 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, was believed to have ties to the TdA which has been increasing its activity in the United States.
Not only had Ibarra been arrested and released multiple times prior to heading to Georgia to meet up with his brother Diego, also said to be associated with the gang, but he had reportedly been able to acquire a work permit and had been employed through DoorDash, Uber Eats as well as a restaurant.
In February, the FBI had raised alarms that TdA was suspected to be aligning itself with Mexico’s infamous Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, which left law enforcement agencies fearing potential turf wars in American cities like New York where the Venezuelans had been connected to dozens of moped-riding purse-snatches.
Adding to the president’s culpability for the increased risk was a recent report that his administration had transported an estimated 320,000 illegal aliens into the country in 2023 aboard flights arranged through the CBP One app as a means to reduce the number of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Further, in Sept. 2023, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has since been impeached for “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” as well as a “breach of public trust,” had granted temporary protected status for aliens from Venezuela who had arrived in the country before July 31, 2023, deeming their return to their native country unsafe.
Meanwhile, as Border Patrol officials hoped to increase flights to Venezuela, The Wall Street Journal reported that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had stopped accepting flights of deported illegals from the U.S. and Mexico at the end of January.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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