The violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), now recognized as a national security threat under the Trump administration, first emerged in El Paso. For years, the FBI and Border Patrol have been sounding alarms about this ruthless gang, but their warnings went unheeded until the gang’s influence began spreading across U.S. cities.
For the first time, Fox News sat down with leaders from Border Patrol and the FBI in El Paso, who were the first to discover and identify TdA.
“We were really able to sound the alarm working together. It immediately became obvious that this was not just another street gang, but a very violent gang with very bad intentions,” said interim Chief Patrol Agent for the El Paso Sector Walter Slosar.
At the end of 2022, Border Patrol agents noticed a surge of Venezuelans, peaking in 2023 with over 71,000 Venezuelans crossing in just the El Paso sector alone.
“At the time, we had thousands of people coming in each day in this area,” Slosar said. “Criminals immediately took advantage of the flow and hid themselves within that flow.”
Agents recognized the problem and collaborated with the FBI’s El Paso field office to gather intelligence on this violent gang. With almost no support from Venezuela, they had to start from scratch.
“It was an uphill battle,” said Tim Sullivan, chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Group. “There was very limited support coming from Venezuela. So, the agents did their due diligence to start from scratch and build the research and, through partnerships with our federal partners, build the repository of knowledge we have.”
Britton Boyd, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s El Paso field office, said they learned a lot about the gang through hundreds of hours of interviews with people crossing the border at that time.
Border Patrol agents and the FBI identified TdA members by their distinctive tattoos and specific behaviors. While some have called the gang “MS-13 on steroids,” the FBI in El Paso insisted TdA was in a class of its own.
“Tren de Aragua has a whole different network of how they work, how they extort, and how they exploit the people around them,” said El Paso FBI Special Agent in Charge John Morales. “There are similarities, and people may conflate one with the other, but they’re a completely different animal.”
When asked about the violence associated with TdA, FBI and Border Patrol leaders highlighted the group’s disregard for humanity and the law. They described the gang as involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion, and modern slavery.
“Sex trafficking, extortion, thefts, high-end retail theft—any type of violence you can think of is certainly on the table with these guys,” said Border Patrol Special Operations Supervisor Hamid Nikseresht.
It took years for the public to become aware of TdA, as many initially dismissed or refused to believe the warnings from FBI and Border Patrol agents in El Paso. Even the mayor of El Paso suggested the claims were exaggerated after the gang was linked to criminal activity at the Gateway Hotel in downtown El Paso, which ultimately had to shut down due to criminal activity.
“Regarding the Gateway, that is not an exaggeration,” Morales said. “It’s not an exaggeration. Folks need to understand that. Tren de Aragua has no limits, has no boundaries, and there’s no stopping them once they get a foothold, which is why it’s so important for folks to understand it is real. It is a real threat.”
Investigators believe it was not until TdA began spreading across the country, infiltrating various cities, that higher-level officials started to take the threat seriously.
“I think they heard it loud and clear when their criminal enterprise started to manifest itself throughout the United States,” Slosar said. “And I think that’s what really sounded the alarm, when we started seeing it in Middle America.”
The El Paso field office quickly realized that TdA would follow migrant pathways, finding new cities to infiltrate and grow their networks.
“They’ll go into the town, they’ll infiltrate, and they’re going to target the most vulnerable folks there,” Morales said.
FBI and Border Patrol agents said they finally feel heard as the Trump administration has now prioritized taking down Tren de Aragua.
“We all took an oath to defend this country, and we’re now able to do our jobs to the fullest extent,” Sullivan said.
“It’s a transformative moment in the modern history of United States law enforcement, where men and women are enabled and encouraged to go out and do their jobs and keep our community safe,” Boyd added.
Source: Fox News
