Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation Sept. 16 declaring the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization.
He also launched a statewide operation to aggressively target the gang.
“The recent entry and expansion of the vicious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is a dangerous and deadly problem facing our state and nation,” said Abbott in a statement. “Our goal is to defend Texas from the growing threat of the gang. We will not let them use Texas as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens. They have a target on their back, and we are going after them. Texas is the wrong state for them to try to do business in.”
"Tren de Aragua gangsters are like cockroaches,” McCraw told reporters. "They multiply quickly; small intrusions into communities become infestations if not aggressively pursued. These Venezuelan thugs are highly combative, violent, and certainly adaptable. They’re always involved in situations that first start with human smuggling. Then they are involved in the extortion, kidnappings, rape, assaults, and sex trafficking of migrants."
During the press conference, Abbott outlined the background intelligence on TdA as an extreme version of the MS-13 gang. He noted that TdA started as a prison gang in Venezuela before expanding into a transnational criminal organization; reportedly dominating the international flow of migrants from South America through Mexico and into the United States. The governor said that the gang has a history of flooding other countries with military-aged Venezuelan males to establish a base of operation to reportedly carry out violent crimes in those countries.
In 2023, Abbott signed Senate Bill 1900 into law, which defined transnational drug cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in Texas and increased penalties for the distribution of illegal drugs and the operation of stash houses. The law also adds foreign terrorist organizations to current intelligence databases and allows state and local authorities to seek public nuisance claims against them.
The governor also signed Senate Bill 4 from Special Session #3, which created a mandatory ten-year minimum prison sentence for smuggling of persons. Passed with bipartisan support, the law enhanced the criminal penalties for the operation of stash houses and created a mandatory five-year minimum prison sentence.
A report from Transparency Venezuela, states the gang adopted its name between 2013 and 2015 but may have begun operations earlier.
Annie Gimbel
