Sheriffs across the US are slamming the Biden-Harris administration over the failed border policies that allowed in violent Tren de Aragua gang members, who are now threatening to shoot cops.
The Venezuelan prison gang has sent its members across the southern border posing as migrants seeking asylum in the US. While in the country, the gang’s leadership has given its members the “green light” to shoot American law enforcement officers who try to disrupt their operations.
In a statement Tuesday, leaders of the American Sheriffs Alliance called for national attention to Tren de Aragua’s threat and said the source of the gang’s actions is the open US-Mexico border.
“When we allow a brutal and violent gang, like [Tren de Aragua], to operate in the United States, we have failed in terms of border security,” said Canyon County, Idaho, Sheriff Kieran Donahue.
“[Tren de Aragua] is the latest example where failed policies have allowed violent gangs and criminal cartels into our country who subsequently commit heinous acts of violence and cause fear in our communities.”
The gang’s criminal enterprise in the US involves “human smuggling and trafficking, kidnapping, extortion schemes, and moving illicit narcotics in their areas of operation,” according to the sheriffs.
Tren de Aragua has been tied to hundreds of crimes, including the shootings of two NYPD cops who were trying to arrest one of their gangsters in June.
It was also recently revealed that the gang has been smuggling guns into Big Apple migrant shelters inside food delivery bags.
The Biden administration recently designated the Tren de Aragua as a “transnational criminal organization” and is offering millions of dollars in its pursuit of the gang’s leaders.
“While we applaud the efforts of the U.S. Treasury Department for sanctioning [Tren de Aragua] and giving them the official designation of a transnational criminal organization (TCO), it is clear due to the threats issued by gang leadership to kill and injure our law enforcement officers across the country that more needs to be done to stymie the flow of members of [Tren de Aragua] into the U.S.,” said Megan Noland, Executive Director of Major County Sheriffs of America.
The gang has also recruited new migrant arrivals in several sanctuary cities, including Denver, where its members allegedly carried out a violent jewelry store heist.
Prominent members of the gang include Jose Ibarra, who is charged with murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. His two brothers, both of whom also crossed into the US illegally, have also been identified as members of the gang, according to law enforcement sources.
Border Patrol only began tracking the group in March 2023 and since then has caught roughly 70 of its members, according to federal data. The group reportedly has some 5,000 members overall.
“The total number of [Tren de Aragua] members operating in the United States is unknown due to the number of “got-a-ways” entering the country, as well as those who may have been recruited domestically since [Tren de Aragua] has showed its presence in the country,” the sheriffs noted.
Homeland Security sources have told The Post that Tren de Aragua is likely here to stay in the US because Venezuela continues to refuse deportation flights.