The Truth Behind Tren de Aragua

Here's what you really need to know about the origin of this so-called gang that is better described as a transnational criminal organization or a Foreign Terrorist Organization — a designation the State Department issued earlier this year. 

First of all, TdA has been in the United States causing problems for a few years now. It didn't just start with the apartments in Aurora, Colo., that we all heard about last fall. Even the New York Times admits that it became prevalent during the early 2020s when Joe Biden was president, and there was a surge of illegal migration into the United States. 

But TdA actually dates all the way back to 2014 when a man named Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka Niño Guerrero, was locked up at Tocorón Prison, which is located in the Aragua state of Venezuela. According to the State Department, "During his time there, Guerrero expanded the influence of Tren de Aragua from extorting prison inmates and bribing prison guards to assuming the overall control of the Tocorón prison as well as the control of gold mines in Bolivar State, drug corridors on the Caribbean coast, as well as control of some of the clandestine border crossings between Venezuela and Colombia." 

The BBC reported that because of Guerrero's growing power, the jail essentially turned into a luxury resort and included a zoo, nightclub, and swimming pool. "Families of inmates moved into the compound. Inmates had access to a makeshift bank, a betting shop, a restaurant, and a baseball diamond, while their children could marvel at flamingos and ostriches in the animal enclosure." Meanwhile, Guerrero came and went as he pleased, reportedly living "like a king." He had his own floor in the prison, complete with personal bodyguards. He also had no major rivals or opposition, which helped him grow TdA throughout Venezuela. It eventually made its way to the Colombian border. By 2018, it was spreading through other South American countries, including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Brazil. 

Leaders in these countries reportedly put pressure on Venezuela to shut it down. In 2023, the country's government reportedly sent 11,000 soldiers and police into the prison to take control and after the fact, they claimed it went off without a hitch. However, Guerrero, who is currently 41 years old, wasn't there — though it took Venezuela some time to make this information public — and a manhunt began across numerous South American countries. As of last summer, the State Department, in conjunction with Colombian National Police, have offered up to a $5 million reward for information leading to Guerrero's arrest, as well as an additional $7 million for the arrest of two other TdA leaders. 

Si Ud le pregunta a la señora madre de Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, dirá que es un ángel de Dios. Si le pregunta a sus exparejas Jimena Araya o Luidig Ochoa dirán que Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores es el mejor hombre de su vida.
Este es ese Niño inocente: pic.twitter.com/fq74rEKQIK

— Luis Polo (@luisalfredopolo) March 18, 2025

And while there is evidence that TdA was in the United States before 2023, it seems like that is when it really began to explode. 

U.S. Border Patrol reported to Telemundo that at least 38 potential members had been arrested at the border between the U.S. and Mexico in 2023. The FBI reported that the number was even higher. But I'm not sure if the worst part is that they were caught and released into the U.S. or that Border Patrol believes the ones who were caught were in the minority.  

"There are individuals who are part of this criminal group, but simply because they don't have a criminal record or anything that would distinguish them as part of that group, they have also been released within the United States," Art Del Cueto, vice president of the Border Patrol Union, told Telemundo. He estimated that hundreds more had probably entered the country without getting caught. 

Unlike other transnational criminal organizations, like MS-13, a TdA affiliation doesn't require you to get a specific type of tattoo, purposely making it harder to identify its members. However, "Law enforcement and immigration officials across the nation have linked several tattoos to Tren de Aragua: stars on shoulders, crowns, firearms, grenades, trains, dice, predatory felines, gas masks, clocks, the Illuminati sign and the jersey number 23 — which basketball players including Michael Jordan and LeBron James made famous — in addition to tattoos of roses and the Jumpman logo," according to NBC. Phrases like "Hijos de Dios" which means "Sons of God," and "Real Hasta la Muerte," which means "Real Until Death" are also thought to be affiliated with TdA membership.  

Since 2023, TdA-affiliated crimes ranging from shoplifting to murder have ramped up across the country. In October 2023, local authorities confirmed its presence in Chicago. In November 2023, several members of TdA allegedly tortured, robbed, and murdered a retired police officer in Miami. 

In 2024, the New York Times reported that "Federal officials were working on more than 100 investigations linked to the gang at one point this year" and that TdA had been present in New York City since at least 2022. The NYPD reported gang members committing crimes like "snatching cellphones; retail thefts, especially high-end merchandise in department stores; and dealing a pink, powdery synthetic drug, known as Tusi, that is often laced with ketamine, MDMA or fentanyl." They believed that they were recruiting new members in the city's overwhelmed migrant shelters and communicating with them through private WhatsApp groups. 

In February 2024 in Georgia, nursing student Laken Riley was out for a jog on the University of Georgia campus when she was murdered by a man who is believed to be a member of TdA. And, of course, we all know by now that in the summer and fall of 2024, groups of TdA members took over apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado. 

In July 2024, the Treasury Department officially sanctioned TdA as a transnational criminal organization, stating: 

From its origins as a prison gang in Aragua, Venezuela, Tren de Aragua has quickly expanded throughout the Western Hemisphere in recent years. With a particular focus on human smuggling and other illicit acts that target desperate migrants, the organization has developed additional revenue sources through a range of criminal activities, such as illegal mining, kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, and the trafficking of illicit drugs such as cocaine and MDMA. 

Tren de Aragua poses a deadly criminal threat across the region. For example, Tren de Aragua leverages its transnational networks to traffic people, especially migrant women and girls, across borders for sex trafficking and debt bondage. When victims seek to escape this exploitation, Tren de Aragua members often kill them and publicize their deaths as a threat to others. 

In November 2024, the Department of Homeland Security admitted that TdA was present in 16 states and Washington, D.C. 

As of 2023, there were just under a million Venezuelans living in the U.S., 75% of whom had arrived since 2010. Another seven million or so Venezuelans had fled their country and taken up residence in other Latin American nations. While this mass migration has made it easier for TdA members to get to the U.S. and other countries in the Western Hemisphere, Rubio recently implied that he doesn't believe it was all quite so organic. 

Publicly, the corrupt Nicolás Maduro regime denounces TdA and even claims it no longer exists. Earlier this month, the regime's "Minister of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela," Diosdado Cabello, a wanted man himself, appeared on a podcast and said that his government wiped TdA out in 2023. He claims that the idea that the gang still exists is a "massive lie" created by the regime's political opposition, and the U.S. is essentially falling for it. 

But as the Miami Herald reported in January, "Tren de Aragua has long been suspected of being at the service of the Venezuelan regime, with its members used for political destabilization actions in countries with large Venezuelan populations, but now are being used to kill individuals considered a threat to Maduro regime." 

NEW: Deported illegal who attacked NYPD cop gets warm welcome from top Venezuelan official

Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, 19, was greeted with a hug by Venezuelan Minister Diosdado Cabello after being deported

Photos show Cabello smiling as he embraced Gomez-Izquiel after he… pic.twitter.com/NwMBN7w1Kk

— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) March 25, 2025

During a press conference in the Caribbean last week, Rubio mentioned that Cabello greeted a deported TdA member — who was accused of attacking a cop in the U.S. — on the runway with a hug and suggested it was a sign that the regime is, indeed, sending these guys to the U.S. to destabilize us:   

Yesterday, just so everybody knows, yesterday one of these gang members who was involved in New York City in attacking a police officer, was deported back to Venezuela because they're now taking flights again, you know, because of, of some strong measures we've taken. And this guy lands, this guy's the guy that attacked a police officer in New York City and laughed about it in court with a smirk on his face. When he gets off the plane in Venezuela, he's welcomed by this character named Diosdado Cabello. I don't know if you've heard of this guy. And, and he welcomes him, hugging the guy. So, does anybody have any doubt that these people are pushing these people into the United States to destabilize us in the region?

Rubio also described TdA members as "really bad people."   

Tren de Aragua is one of the most dangerous gangs the world has ever seen. When they were held temporarily in Guantanamo... the Marines at Guantanamo said these are some of the roughest people we've ever interacted with. They were worse than the Al Qaeda guys that were in their jails. Think about that. That's who we're getting rid of, and we want to get rid of more of them. 

Related: More Murderers Leave the Country, Democrats Probably Not Okay

When you take all of this into consideration — the mentality of these TdA members, their likely link to the Maduro regime, the way they may be purposely infiltrating the United States, and the crimes they're capable of and notorious for, like human trafficking, drug distribution, and murder — well, it kind of makes you wonder why so many on the left are up in arms over the fact that Donald Trump is deporting them. And believe me, what I've written here only scratches the surface. These are not people we want in our communities.