Former DHS Secretary Chad Wolf stated that "criminal organizations" like the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang have expanded their criminal operations into the United States from South and Central America. The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) shared Wolf's statement on August 5.
"Maduro's policies and the failed strategy of the Biden-Harris Administration have allowed criminal organizations, such as the Tren de Aragua gang, to extend their influence into the United States, further complicating our security and public safety," said Wolf, Executive Director. "Vice President Harris was tasked with addressing the root causes of the migration crisis in March 2021, but the past three and half years of her America Last policies have created a border crisis and have severely degraded America's security at home and abroad."
According to a press release, Tren de Aragua was designated a transnational criminal organization in July 2024 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The gang engages in sex and drug trafficking, as well as smuggling and money laundering. Though originally a prison gang, their operations now concentrate on the exploitation of migrants through criminal means in South and Central America.
The Venezuelan government has been under the influence of these criminal organizations, causing mass migration to the United States and pressure on other nations for aid, according to AFPI. Wolf said the Maduro regime turned the country into a "narco-state."
The New York Post reported that Tren de Aragua has thousands of members posing as asylum seekers in cities such as Denver, Colorado. There have been several instances in New York and Denver of gang members open-firing on police officers, with law enforcement in other cities being warned against the same danger.
CNN reported that Tren de Aragua has expanded its influence across South America and now into the United States, where it is linked to a series of violent crimes, including human trafficking, murder, and attacks on law enforcement. Members of the gang have been apprehended in the U.S., using stash houses for their human trafficking network. "They have followed the migration paths across South America to other countries and have set up criminal groups throughout South America as they follow those paths, and that they appear to follow the migration north to the United States," Britton Boyd, an FBI special agent in El Paso, Texas, told CNN. U.S. officials, including members of Congress, are concerned about the group's growing presence in the U.S.
Chad Wolf is the former Secretary of Homeland Security and Executive Director of AFPI. He is also Chair of AFPI's Center for Homeland Security and Immigration.
