Texas Governor Greg Abbott has officially designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdN) as a foreign terrorist organization, giving law enforcement enhanced tools to combat the gang’s presence in the state. The announcement, made during a press conference on September 18, 2023, is part of the governor’s broader effort to tackle the criminal operations of TdN and limit their expansion in Texas.
At a glance:
- Governor Abbott has designated the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist organization.
- The designation allows Texas law enforcement to use new legal resources, including civil asset forfeiture and enhanced criminal penalties.
- Texas has created a special strike team to target TdN’s criminal activities across the state.
Abbott emphasized that the TdN gang poses a significant danger to the safety and security of Texas residents. “The recent entry and expansion of the vicious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is a dangerous and deadly problem facing our state and nation,” Abbott said. He explained that the state is creating a specialized TdN strike team tasked with identifying and arresting gang members involved in criminal activities such as human smuggling, extortion, kidnapping, and sex trafficking.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director, Colonel Steve McCraw, described the gang’s spread as comparable to an infestation of “cockroaches” and warned that the gangsters are violent and highly adaptable. McCraw assured Texans that law enforcement would aggressively pursue the gang to prevent them from establishing a foothold in the state.
Texas Border Czar Mike Banks pointed to the Biden administration’s open border policies as a primary cause for the increase in Venezuelan gang members entering the U.S. “The Tren de Aragua problem in Texas and the rest of the United States is a direct result of open border policies,” Banks said. He noted a sharp rise in apprehensions of Venezuelan migrants since President Joe Biden took office.
In a previous action against organized crime, Governor Abbott designated certain Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in 2022. He later signed Senate Bill 1900 into law, codifying that designation and seeking federal recognition of these groups as terrorists. Abbott compared TdN to the notorious MS-13 gang, describing it as an “extreme version” of that group, which began as a prison gang in Venezuela before evolving into a transnational criminal organization.
The new TdN strike team, composed of DPS Highway Patrol troopers, Special Agents, Texas Rangers, and others, will coordinate efforts with federal, state, and local law enforcement to stop the gang’s operations in Texas. Abbott concluded his statement by reaffirming Texas’ commitment to combating TdN: “They have a target on their back, and we are going after them.”
residents. “The recent entry and expansion of the vicious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is a dan