Major nationwide Tren de Aragua crackdown, more than 80 firearms seized

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

The Trump administration continues to crack down on violent Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang members after they flooded the country during the Biden administration.

By December 2024, TdA members were reported to be committing crimes in at least 22 states, The Center Square exclusively reported. TdA is known for violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking and are linked to hundreds of law enforcement investigations nationwide.

The Trump administration was the first to designate TdA as a foreign terrorist organization. Since the president’s been in office, the Department of Justice has charged more than 260 members and associates nationwide.

The DOJ announced more than 25 additional TdA members have been charged, primarily citizens of Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras.

They were caught through multi-agency undercover operations spearheaded through a DOJ Joint Task Force Vulcan. Multiple charges were filed in six U.S. Attorney offices, in the districts of Colorado, Southern Florida, Northern Indiana, Middle Tennessee, Western Tennessee and Eastern Washington.

More than 80 firearms and 18 kilograms of drugs were seized in these cases, including fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, ketamine, MDMA, and Tusi, a mixed substance containing ketamine and/or MDMA. Law enforcement also seized more than $100,000 in U.S. currency, according to the charges.

Prosecutors argue TdA activities are being coordinated across state lines and with leaders in Venezuela and Colombia.

In Tennessee, five people, including two alleged Anti-Tren members were charged with multiple firearms and drug trafficking offenses. Anti-Tren are current and former TdA members “operating without or against the authority of TdA leadership in South America,” the DOJ said.

They were arrested in Nashville, Louisiana and Washington state. Three charged were illegally living in Nashville; one was a lawful permanent and Honduran national; one was illegally living in Kennewick, Washington. One, a Venezuelan national illegally living in Nashville, was arrested while wearing what appears to be a Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales de la Policía Nacional Bolivariana (FAES) uniform, according to the charges.

In this case, HSI, ATF, FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, and other law enforcement agencies conducted multiple undercover operations leading to their arrests. Law enforcement also seized 25 firearms, including eight reported as stolen and two connected to other crimes. They also seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition, extended magazines, a drum magazine, more than $8,000 in cash and methamphetamine, MDMA and ketamine, and cocaine.

In Florida, three illegal foreign nationals, alleged associates of those charged in Tennessee, were charged with intent to distribute a controlled substance. In Tennessee, TdA members have been selling large amounts of narcotics and firearms, investigators have found. Undercover ATF agents working in Broward and Miami-Dade counties arrested them and seized 500 MDMA pills, two firearms, cocaine, ketamine, and methamphetamine, according to the charges.

In Colorado, two Venezuelan nationals have been indicted on charges of illegal firearms trafficking; one with distributing tusi. According to the criminal complaint and indictment, they illegally entered the U.S. and subsequently sold numerous firearms in Colorado. They allegedly “obliterated serial numbers and several high-capacity firearms and magazines and ammunition,” according to an ATF undercover agent.

TdA and Anti-Tren members have so far been identified and arrested nationwide with key operations in Colorado, Tennessee, New York, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Washington, Georgia, Nebraska and Texas, the DOJ said. They have been indicted on weapons and drug trafficking charges, ATM burglaries (jackpotting) and coordinated criminal activities across state lines and with South American leaders in Venezuela and Colombia, the DOJ said.

One large bust occurred earlier this year with 87 indicted in a Colombian and Venezuelan jackpotting scheme in Nebraska, The Center Square reported. In another, 27 TdA and Anti-Tren members were charged in New York for violent sexual crimes, kidnapping and sex trafficking, The Center Square reported.

The first Trump administration launched JTFV in 2019 to target MS-13, which was expanded under the second Trump administration to target TdA.

JTFV includes the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Eastern and Western Districts of North Carolina; Western District of Virginia; Southern District of Florida; Eastern District of Texas; Western District of Oklahoma; Northern District of Indiana; District of Nevada; and the District of Arizona; Bureau of Prisons, FBI, DEA, HSI, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, among others.