President Donald Trump unveiled “Operation Aurora” last month during remarks made in the city of the same name in Colorado. The proposed federal program would seek to remove members of a dangerous transnational Venezuelan mega-gang, called the Tren de Aragua (TdA), from urban and suburban communities throughout America. Critics characterize this proposed operation as some sort of nativist nonsense; however, for someone that has studied Venezuela and Latin America for almost 20 years—I can assure you it’s not.
The proposed “Operation Aurora” is not just prudent policy, it’s essential to save American streets from being overrun by the fastest growing transnational criminal organization in the world.
The Tren de Aragua isn’t your average criminal organization. It’s one that was born in the prisons of the most totalitarian country in the Western Hemisphere. What started as a Venezuelan prison gang more than a decade ago has transformed into a major transnational criminal organization (TCO) active in at least twelve countries, using violence as its calling card to capture territory.
Many comparisons have been drawn between the TdA and the transnational Salvadoran gang, La Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13). The TdA, however, is expanding much quicker, likely due to its probable state-sponsorship in Venezuela. Unlike MS-13, which was born in Los Angeles in the 1980s, the TdA is foreign born and was virtually nonexistent in America until 2021. Making the TdA’s rapid expansion in the United States a direct consequence of the Biden-Harris administration’s failed immigration policies and lack of border enforcement.
During the Biden-Harris administration, more than 1.5 million Venezuelans have entered the United States or been encountered on the southern border. The Tren de Aragua followed them. Much like in South America, the TdA preys first on Venezuelan migrant communities then expands to other vulnerable populations. The difficulty of distinguishing criminal aliens from other Venezuelan migrants is a real conundrum for U.S. law enforcement.
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The Venezuelan government does not cooperate or provide any data on suspected criminals coming from their country into the United States. Prompting some law enforcement officers to dub the TdA as “ghost criminals” with little to identify them other than confessions and/or tattoos. The complex vetting challenge is at the heart of the failure of the Biden-Harris immigration policies that have created a national security crisis on the U.S. southern border, and a serious law enforcement challenge throughout the country.
Instead of slowing down the vetting process of Venezuelan immigrants, given their unique circumstances, the Biden-Harris administration sped it up through its controversial Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela (CHNV) parole program. The CHNV parole program, launched in January 2023, was riddled with fraud, and recently cancelled likely because the Biden-Harris administration finally realized it was a failed policy in the first place. But not before admitting at least half a million migrants from those countries, with around a quarter being Venezuelan, with no real ability to vet them. Placing unneeded strain on law enforcement agencies who are now trying to clean up the Biden-Harris team’s mess.
If elected, President Trump wants to give these law enforcement agencies reinforcements. In alluding to the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, President Trump is referring to a series of laws (Alien and Sedition Acts) that still exist in the books to empower the U.S. government to detain and expeditiously deport non-citizens that are deemed dangerous to the nation’s safety and come from a country that undertakes an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” on U.S. territory.
The lawyers will undoubtedly dive into each proposition, but for everyday Americans, this is a necessity and a national security priority.
Operation Aurora would coalesce a whole-of-government approach that is sorely needed to uproot this violent Venezuelan mega-gang from American communities. It would also send a serious signal to Latin American partners who are struggling to confront the TdA within their own borders and looking for U.S. leadership on this issue.
In 2017, President Trump encountered the rise of ISIS and growth of MS-13 causing similar chaos in America and around the world. He immediately implemented policies for his national security team to rise to the challenge. In less than one year, the Trump administration smashed ISIS in the Middle East and deported several MS-13 criminals back to Central America. The “Venezuelafication of American streets” is an equal if not greater challenge. One that Operation Aurora can solve if Americans make the smart choice in November.
Joseph M. Humire is the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society and the author of a book chapter titled “Venezuela, Trends in Organized Crime” (Lexington Books, 2014).
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