A retired Miami-Dade County police officer was strangled. A public beating of New York City law enforcement officers took place in Times Square. Five women were sex trafficked in suburban Indianapolis. Despite the fact that these murders took place hundreds of miles apart, Tren de Aragua, a cruel group, is believed to have been responsible.
This is not a new group. Venezuelan-Americans in Miami-Dade County have been warning about Tren de Aragua for quite some time. These criminals originated in Venezuela, but they fled and have spent the last few years sowing fear and instability in Chile and Peru, as well as causing complete havoc in Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia. They specialize in kidnapping, extortion, murder, sex enslavement, and drug trafficking.
Tren de Aragua is already setting up shop in cities across the United States, thanks to an open southern border. President Joe Biden must mobilize federal resources to combat this gang before it becomes entrenched in our neighborhoods. This entails identifying it as a transnational criminal organization (TCO). Representative María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., and 21 other members of Congress will join me on this call.
There is no time to waste, because Tren de Aragua’s widely known atrocities are merely the tip of the iceberg. Its “stabbings, assaults, and robberies” are on the rise in several major cities. Furthermore, the FBI suspects the group’s leaders are developing an affiliation with Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), the terrifying Salvadoran gang responsible for killing four Long Island youngsters in 2017.
This is what occurs when thousands, if not millions, of illegal migrants are released. But this is not the time to despair. President Biden must quickly change direction and enforce the law in order to mitigate the consequences of his carelessness.
Designating Tren de Aragua as a TCO would give the federal government the authority to impose sanctions on the group and its members, such as freezing their assets and banning their travel. It would also push government authorities to prioritize Tren de Aragua. To investigate and dismantle these criminal invaders, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Department of Homeland Security would work more closely together as well as with international allies.
Would any of these adjustments serve as a panacea? No. But they would steer us in the correct direction. Without action, there is a very real risk that our cities will resemble the Latin American communities in which Tren de Aragua rose to power: places where people do not go out at night, extortion is common, and fear of brutality reigns supreme over respect for law and order.
Such an outcome should be abhorrent for all US policymakers, particularly our commander-in-chief. For the sake of all Tren de Aragua’s innocent victims, past, present, and future, I encourage President Biden to take Congress’ suggestion and put an end to this gang’s expansion.
