Violent Venezuelan prison gang infiltrating US, becoming more organized and brazen: 'MS-13 on steroids'

A violent prison gang called Tren de Aragua, which originated in Aragua, Venezuela, is infiltrating the United States, according to U.S. officials.

The Treasury Department in July sanctioned TDA as a transnational criminal organization, saying the gang participates in different kinds of crimes ranging from human trafficking to kidnapping to extortion, money laundering and illicit drug trafficking, posing a "deadly criminal threat across" the Western Hemisphere.

Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales described TDA as "MS-13 on steroids," saying members have been coming to the United States for several years now in a phone interview with Fox News Digital.

"They're extremely aggressive. It's not as if they're a passive group or they want to quietly go about things," Gonzales said. "They're coming from Venezuela, one of the most war-torn countries over the last decade. So, they're battle-hardened in many ways. And they've made this trek from there to here. But they are also becoming … more organized and more brazen."

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Gonzales said because of their organization within the states, TDA members are becoming more difficult to track. They're also difficult to deport because Venezuela is not accepting them back into the country.

Only 834 Venezuelans were deported in fiscal 2023, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, despite more than 335,000 encounters with Venezuelan migrants at the border that year.

The Biden administration started returning illegal immigrants from Venezuela directly to the socialist dictatorship in October 2023 to discourage the flow to the border. 

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Venezuela stopped accepting those flights in January, though, after the U.S. reimposed economic sanctions it had previously lifted.

"They basically released these people and told them, 'You're getting a one-way trip to the United States,'" Gonzales said.

In a recent example of such violence, TDA members were linked to a June 24 jewelry heist in Denver, Colorado, during which multiple suspects posing as clients suddenly pulled out guns and pistol-whipped two women inside the jewelry store, according to FOX 31 Denver. 

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The Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico recently shared a bulletin from the Colorado Information Analysis Center with personnel in July warning law enforcement of reports that TDA members in Denver have been given a "'green light' to fire on or attack law enforcement."

Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra's brother, Diego Ibarra, also has ties to the gang, as Fox News previously reported. 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.

The gang has been linked to dozens of robberies in all five boroughs of New York City, and two TDA members were accused of attacking two NYPD officers in Times Square in January.

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"Lots of people are fleeing economic persecution, and they're looking for an opportunity," Gonzales said. "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."

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has a National Gang Unit that works with federal, state, local and international law enforcement partners to identify violent street gangs and arrest, prosecute, detain or remove transnational members, according to ICE. The agency also provides support to enhance gang investigations for HSI field offices across the nation and overseas.

"Homeland Security Investigations is committed to investigating, disrupting and dismantling transnational gangs and prioritizes work to combat emerging threats related to them," an ICE spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "HSI is aware of recent violent crime and arrests involving individuals allegedly associated with the Tren de Aragua gang and continues to assess emerging trends and assist partner law enforcement agencies."

Illegal immigrants associated with gang activity in their home countries and identified during regular immigration enforcement duties are prioritized for arrest, detention and removal. 

The FBI has warned that TDA members could team up with the more infamous MS-13 as it looks to expand within U.S. borders.

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TDA "leverages its transnational networks to traffic people, especially migrant women and girls, across borders for sex trafficking and debt bondage," the Treasury said in a July press release. "When victims seek to escape this exploitation, Tren de Aragua members often kill them and publicize their deaths as a threat to others."

Anyone with information related to gang activity may submit anonymous reports to ICE by calling the HSI tip-line at 877-4-HSI-TIP.

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.