Morning Wire - Venezuelan Gangs Infiltrate U.S. Cities | 9.7.24

Episode Date: September 7, 2024

Incidents in Aurora, Colorado and beyond are on the rise and many are blaming the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Several Republican elected officials, border patrol agents and law enforcement are sounding the alarm as violent criminal activity is expanding into more American cities. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A violent Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua is now operating in multiple U.S. states. Members are believed to have entered the country illegally over the past three years, taking advantage of the disorder at our southern border. The group recently made national news for seizing control of an apartment building in Colorado and another in Chicago, prompting President Trump to sound the alarm. You see the gang of Venezuelans today? They took over a building. They literally took over the building, walked in with machine guns, guns,

gang members from Venezuela. You haven't seen even the beginning of this migrant crime. And just remember, you know, they have a hat. It said Trump was right about everything. And I have to say I pretty much was right about everything. You're going to see, unfortunately, unfortunately, I wish I wasn't. I wish I wasn't. In this episode, we take a closer look at the growing chaos caused by the gang in American communities.

I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley, with George. Georgia Howe. It's September 7th, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire. The current president is dead set on spending the remaining trillion dollars of his agenda before leaving office. Translation, more money printing, and soaring inflation. But there's hope. A gold IRA from Birchgold Group is the ultimate inflation hedge for your savings in uncertain times. And for one final month, Birchgold is offering an exclusive 24-carat gold-plated truth bomb on qualifying purchases. But you need to text Wire to 989898 to claim your eligible. before September 30th. Again, text WIRE to 9898-98-9-98 to claim your eligibility and make your

purchase today. Here to discuss the escalating Trin de Aragua presence in the U.S. as DailyWire Senior Editor Ash Short, Hey Ash. So this group is getting a lot more attention in recent weeks for several very disturbing developments. First, what can you tell us about this gang? Well, the gang is called Tren de Aragua and is reportedly a threat to the more well-known Salvadoran gang MS-13. The gang took this name about a decade ago, but had been operating long before then. It originated in an notorious Venezuelan prison controlled by the founding members of the gang, and in 2015, they teamed up with another Brazilian gang and began extending their operation throughout South America and eventually north to the U.S. And we're only recently learning about its operations here.

Right. While the gang has been linked to some high-profile crimes recently, it's reportedly operating quietly in many communities across the U.S. A few weeks ago, videos of armed gang members attempting to force their way into an apartment in Aurora, Colorado went viral. The situation became so bad that residents have chosen to move. And one video shows the measures one woman now takes to lock up our apartment for the night to keep gang members from kicking in the door. Aurora police have denied claims that the apartment was taken over, but they do acknowledge that there is an issue. Amon Blair, who's an army veteran, a former border patrol agent, and a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told Morning Wire in an interview that what we've

seen in Aurora will be coming to more communities in the future. So what we're seeing now is Thren Dioragua, governing and controlling apartment complexes, not just one, but it's actually multiple complexes there in the city. So now that we've imported millions of people into the United States, and that, along with that over, well, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans into the country, the Drain Deraagua has followed the migration pipelines into every one of our communities. So this is not going to be just an Aurora, Colorado problem. It's not going to be a Dallas-Billas problem. It's going to be every area where there's an enclave of Venezuelan immigrants. And that's where Dren Dioragua is going to start from, and then they're just going to expand their

operations from there. Now, the gang has reportedly given the green light for its members to open fire on law enforcement. And Aurora Mayor Mike Kaufman said last week that the crimes have become a nightmare situation. He also admitted that the city has lost control and is, quote, working aggressively to get it back. And just this week, across the country in Chicago, a group of nearly three dozen armed Venezuelans stormed an apartment building, according to a 911 call about the incident. City-wide person with a gun, 6-1-2-4 South King Drive, color says 32 Venezuelans are trespassing the building, showing guns in the courtyard and they have motorcycles in the courtyard as well. When police arrived two hours later, the armed migrants were gone. Still 30 armed gang members on motorcycles has got to be terrifying for residents.

How many members are believed to be operating here in the U.S.? There are an estimated 5,000 members total, but we don't really know how many are. in the country. We do know, though, that a huge number of Venezuelans are migrating to the U.S. More than 330,000 Venezuelans crossed into the U.S. last year. We don't know much about their criminal background because Venezuela and some other countries don't provide criminal history information to border patrol. There's also been recent discussion, largely prompted by Donald Trump's speeches, about the crime rate in Venezuela dropping in recent years, and whether that is due to their criminals coming to America in the form of gambling.

members. They're pouring in, and many of them are the worst people in those countries, and their crime rates are going way down. In Venezuela, their crime rate has gone plummeted because they're sending their killers. Meanwhile, experts who talked to the media said there wasn't evidence this was actually happening, but they also couldn't say it was impossible. Here's what Mr. Blair said about the issue. Venezuela last year, they claimed that they went into the Tokoram prison to wipe out the

leadership of Trin de Aragua. they sent in the 11,000 of their military and law enforcement, and it was just all for show. At the end of the day, what ended up happening was the leadership was released, and the other prisoners were just transferred to other prisons. So that report is actually on our U.S. Southern Command's media page to include the people that are currently tracking it. Now, one of the NGOs that U.S. Southern Command was working with in order to get this information, they just put out another statement in May of this year, showing that the reason why Venezuela is claiming that their criminal activity inside their country is decreasing is because the military-aged males that belong to Thrain Diyadhua are following the migrant pipelines into the United States. They're going to follow where they can receive the most money, and that is going to be the United States.

So when people state that Venezuela release their prisons and they're releasing their criminals, I mean, I guess it kind of is like a half-truth. They went in and they allowed the leadership to leave. And since 2021, around 800,000 Venezuelans have tried to cross the southern border, with more coming each year. There were 50,500 in fiscal year 2021. But that surged to more than 330,000 by fiscal year 2023, and Venezuelans have become the majority of illegal immigrants arriving in Chicago, New York, and Denver, which has prompted even Democrat politicians in those cities to express concern. Victor Menjarez, former Border Patrol chief who now teaches about gang violence,

total local El Paso reporter that TDA have already set up across the U.S. He also says they are worse than MS-13. They're in big cities. They're like places in Chicago, Miami, New York City, L.A. Generally, these type of gangs don't really stop at El Paso, But it's something we should continue to keep an eye out because I believe that this gang will ultimately be much more violent than MS-13. Now, when the U.S. tries to deport someone from Venezuela, the country refuses to take them back. Under a 2023 deal with Biden administration, Mexico agreed to take 30,000 illegal immigrants from Venezuela and other Central American countries monthly.

But more than 30,000 illegal immigrants are entering the U.S. most months. Also last year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would actually provide about 472,000 Venezuelans who came to the U.S. illegally protected status, allowing them to easily get work in the U.S. Democrat politicians in sanctuary cities and states reportedly made the request due to the increased burden these illegal immigrants were having on their economy. Yeah. Is there any way to get an accurate number of how many crimes are being committed by these gang members? Not really. and that's by design. The data set used by the FBI

to track cartel-related crimes is extremely limited, and there are several challenges in collecting such data, including a lack of a clear definition as to what constitutes a cartel-related crime, variation in reporting practices,

and the reluctance of victims who fear retaliation or deportation. Yeah. Now, it was a Venezuelan national that killed the nursing student in Georgia, is that correct? Right. Jose Ibarra is the man who killed Lake and Riley,

and he is reportedly a member of Tren de Aragua. The gang was also responsible for a shooting injuring two police officers in June in New York. Is the Biden administration doing anything to counteract these gangs? Not really, but some Republicans are trying to force some action. In March, Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to President Joe Biden demanding he formally designate the vicious gang as a transnational criminal organization, writing, quote, the breadth of Trenda Aragua's operations encompasses murder, drug and human trafficking, sex crimes, extortion and kidnapping, among other brutalities.

And Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez also warned about the gang at a homeland security meeting in April. These Venezuelan gangs, they're growing in influence, they're growing in criminal activity throughout the country, and I believe there are a significant threat to our homeland. Amid all these headlines over the last two weeks, President Biden was largely on vacation. At the same time, Vice President Harris is out campaigning, leading many people to ask what exactly the administration is doing in response to these alarming incidents. In the end, the numbers don't lie. The administration has allowed the explosion of illegal immigrants, including thousands of gang members, to enter the country, while many sanctuary cities have allowed them to get released on bail when they commit crimes.

Definitely a frightening situation that could come to any city. Ash, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. That was Daily Wire Senior Editor Ash Short, and this has been a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.