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Tren de Aragua Has Expanded to Over a Dozen States

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  November 19, 2024 3:30 PM

Townhall previously covered how the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua made headlines for "taking over" apartment complexes and wreaking havoc on residents in Aurora, Colorado. 

Horrifying footage showed the illegal aliens patrolling one apartment complex with a rifle. Video captured on a doorbell camera shows the men attempting to get into an apartment.

Shortly after, reports broke that Tren de Aragua took over apartment complexes in Austin, Texas, as Townhall covered. At one point, Townhall reported how a Tren de Aragua member who was arrested was trying to recruit middle school students in Houston to commit crimes.

This week, the New York Post reported that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo explained that the gang has expanded its territory to at least 16 states. This encompasses an area that includes half of America’s population (via NYP):

Homeland Security officials last week were warned in an internal department intelligence memo about TdA’s growing presence across the country, most recently in Washington, DC, Virginia, Montana and Wyoming.

The gang already has footholds in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, according to the memo and previous reporting by The Post.

Reportedly, the memo states that the gang has increased its “violent tendencies” as it expands. 

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“As the population of Venezuelan nationals continues to increase, the potential for violent TdA migrants is highly probable,” the memo warned.

In Washington DC and the northern region of Virginia, the increase in Tren de Aragua’s presence aligned with an increase in illegal aliens in the area.

In an interview with the Post, the sheriff of Wyoming’s most populous county said that they have a suspected Tren de Aragua member in his jail. 

“We have a person in our jail who is suspected of being TdA who is being held for trial in December for being in possession of a car that was stolen in Colorado,” Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak said.

In July, Townhall covered how Tren de Aragua leaders gave its members the “green light” to attack American law enforcement. This was outlined in a notice from DHS.