'Pathway to more violence': Tren de Aragua linked to human trafficking

The Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is running human trafficking operations in Tennessee and authorities expect their crimes to worsen.

Members of the Venezuelan criminal gang have been spotted throughout the United States, including in Colorado and Texas. The transnational criminal organization traces its origins to a prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua. 

In response to an inquiry from The Christian Post, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) spokesperson said the state bureau has joined multiple law enforcement agencies across the country in raising the alarm about Tren de Aragua. The earliest crime TBI has linked the gang to is a 2023 human trafficking case. 

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"At this time, intelligence suggests the gang is predominantly still involved in fostering human trafficking in Tennessee, but the known track record of the gang's involvement in theft and drug crimes elsewhere continues to inform our concerted efforts to better understand and more consistently identify Tennessee crimes that may be connected to TdA," the spokesperson stated. 

While tattoos have been one of the most reliable ways to identify gang members, the spokesperson told CP that recent intelligence suggests Tren de Aragua might be less reliant on tattoos, making them harder to identify. 

"Instead, the TBI would remind the general public of the warning signs of human trafficking itself," the spokesperson added. 

The statement from TBI was in response to a Tuesday budget meeting with Republican Gov. Bill Lee. At the meeting, TBI Director David Rausch stated that the gang is “ever-present in our country and in Tennessee,” the Nashville-based WSMV reported. Rausch added that TBI first became aware of the gang two years ago during a human trafficking investigation. 

Members of Tren de Aragua had abducted Venezuelan women and trafficked them in the U.S., but through its operation two years ago, TBI captured several gang members while others fled the state, according to Rausch. 

“Now, what we are seeing is they are back. They are back in all of our major cities,” he warned. “They are running human trafficking operations. That’s where they start, but now, we have learned by talking with our peers throughout the country that they have a pathway to more violence.”

In addition to human trafficking, Rausch said that the gang engages in retail theft, which typically involves using individuals they illegally brought into the U.S. to shoplift. 

“The next step they move into is the drug trade,” Rausch continued. “They will, and they have taken on the cartel head-on. They are very violent in their efforts.”

“Recently, there was a video that they shot, where they shot a cartel member 31 times in broad daylight on video and posted it to social media,” he added. “That’s the type of organization they are.”

The gang became a major talking point during this year’s presidential election following reports of Tren de Aragua engaging in criminal activities across the United States. Republicans, including former President-elect Donald Trump, said members of the gang have infiltrated the country because of the Biden-Harris administration’s lax immigration policies. 

“They allowed criminals, many, many millions of criminals, they allowed terrorists, they allowed common street criminals, they allowed people to come in, drug dealers to come into our country,” Trump said during the September presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. “They’re now in the United States and told by their countries, like Venezuela, don’t ever come back or we’re going to kill you.”

Tren de Aragua gained notoriety in the U.S. after footage of heavily armed men taking over an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, went viral online. While police in the area claimed some of the reports were exaggerated, authorities announced in September that they were investigating 10 suspected gang members for their involvement in a series of crimes. 

"TdA has not 'taken over' the city. The overstated claims fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true,” Aurora police claimed in the announcement. “Again, TdA’s presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months."

"To date, APD has now linked 10 people to TdA and has arrested eight of those people." Aurora police added. "Two of the eight individuals who were taken into custody were involved in a July shooting at one of the specific properties in the city that have experienced issues with TdA activity. In line with these arrests, we can also now confirm that criminal activity, including TdA issues, had significantly affected those properties."