Governor Abbott describes Tren De Aragua as a terrorist organization

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Monday morning, Governor Greg Abbott announced during a press conference in Houston that Texas will launch a comprehensive, statewide operation to aggressively target the dangerous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), disrupt their criminal activities and prevent them from entering the state.

Abbott also designated TdA as a foreign terrorist organization and directed DPS to upgrade it to a Tier 1 gang and form a TdA task force to identify and arrest TdA gang members.

“The recent incursion and expansion of the vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a dangerous and deadly problem for our state and our nation,” said Governor Abbott.

“Our primary goal is the safety of all Texans. To address this imminent threat, I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch a statewide operation aimed directly at Tren de Aragua to deter and disrupt their criminal activities. Additionally, I am officially designating Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. Our goal is to protect Texas from the growing threat posed by the gang. We will not allow them to use Texas as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens. They are a target on their backs and we will go after them. Texas is the wrong state for them to do business in.”

Watch the full press conference here:

“The Tren de Aragua gangsters are like cockroaches,” said DPS Director McCraw. “They multiply quickly; small intruders in communities become nuisances if not aggressively pursued. These Venezuelan gangsters are extremely combative, violent and certainly adaptable. They are always involved in situations that initially start with human smuggling. Then they are involved in extortion, kidnapping, rape, assault and sex trafficking of migrants. Governor Abbott has made it very clear: We will not allow any of these gangsters to gain a foothold in Texas.”

“This gang is not like the traditional MS-13 that you see coming from a distance with their crazy tattoos all over their faces,” said Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.

“These guys are flying under the radar. As a federal agent, we have no way of vetting these people other than on trust. If they give us their name, we can’t match it to Venezuela’s database. It’s a plague that’s not just spreading in Colorado or New York, but in Michigan, Florida, Texas, and so on. If people don’t wake up and realize what it is, we’re going to be in big trouble in this country.”

During the press conference, Governor Abbott outlined the intelligence behind TdA, an extreme version of the vile MS-13 gang. He pointed out that TdA began as a prison gang in Venezuela and later evolved into a transnational criminal organization that dominates the international flow of migrants from South America through Mexico to the United States.

The governor pointed out that the gang has previously flooded other countries with Venezuelan men of military age in order to establish a base of operations for committing violent crimes.

In addition, Governor Abbott officially signed a proclamation designating TdA as a foreign terrorist organization. This designation allows Texas to use the courts to curb the gang’s criminal activities, seize their property through civil asset forfeiture, and increase penalties when prosecuting them.

At the Governor’s direction, DPS will upgrade TdA to a Tier 1 gang to ensure Texas is deploying the necessary resources to stop the gang’s criminal activity in the state. With this new upgrade, DPS will coordinate operations with federal and local partners through the federally funded TAG Centers in El Paso, Houston, Irving, Laredo, Lubbock, McAllen, San Antonio, Tyler, and Waco. The TAG Centers house federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who work together to identify, target, investigate, suppress, and prosecute violent criminals throughout the state.

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