600 immigrants with possible ties to Venezuelan gang identified — fewer than 5% in federal custody
The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly identified more than 600 immigrants currently in the United States who have possible ties to Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang.
According to data obtained and released by NBC News on Wednesday, approximately 100 of the individuals have been designated as “subjects of interest” after they were found to be confirmed gang members. The DHS advised the FBI to place those individuals on its watch list, officials told the news outlet.
‘Almost disturbingly low.’
It noted that after further review, the rest of the 500 immigrants may be gang members themselves or victims and witnesses linked to the gang.
The DHS data obtained by NBC News also revealed that TDA has confirmed activity in at least 15 states and may have a presence in another eight.
A spokesperson for the department told the news outlet, “DHS has an ongoing operation to crack down on gang members through re-screening certain individuals previously encountered, in addition to the rigorous screening and vetting at the border.”
“All individuals confirmed or suspected to be gang members are referred for criminal prosecution or detained and placed into expedited removal,” the spokesperson added.
However, the data revealed that fewer than 5% of the 600 individuals identified by the DHS are in federal custody with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A DHS official told NBC News that ICE has not yet detained some of the individuals because they are currently in custody with other law enforcement agencies, or ICE may not know where the individuals are located. The official also stated that the federal government may still be confirming the individuals’ connections to the gang or to crimes.
According to the DHS official, TDA “prey[s] first and foremost on Venezuelans.”
“We know that they control human smuggling routes out of Venezuela and into Colombia and into Panama. And they are controlling more of these passages as individuals move north through Mexico,” the official said.
Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence and an NBC News contributor, called the DHS’ discovery of 600 immigrants with possible ties to TDA “almost disturbingly low.”
“It should be higher,” he added.
Ammon Blair, a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and former Border Patrol agent, told NBC News that the federal government does not know the full extent of TDA’s presence in the U.S.
“When you look at the process, unfortunately, they’re just steamrolled through,” Blair stated. “The Border Patrol has created a conveyor belt, an automated system to process them and release them as fast as possible into the United States. We were not asking questions.”
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