On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) formally declared Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang, to be a “foreign terrorist organization.”
During the Monday press conference, Abbott highlighted the fact that there have been numerous members of Tren de Aragua among the massive influx of illegal aliens being allowed into the United States under the Biden-Harris administration’s open border policies. The Venezuelan gang is known for violent criminal activity including murder, drug smuggling, human trafficking, and extortion.
“The recent entry and expansion of the vicious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is a dangerous and deadly problem facing our state and nation,” Abbott explained. “Our top focus is the safety and security of all Texans.”
“Our goal is to defend Texas from the growing threat of the gang. We will not let them use Texas as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens. They have a target on their back, and we are going after them. Texas is the wrong state for them to try to do business in,” he added.
Abbott also announced that he had “ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch a statewide operation directly targeting Tren de Aragua to deter and disrupt their criminal operation” — requiring a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for members of the Venezuelan gang who smuggle people into Texas, and ordering the state to create a database designed to track gang members.
The Texas governor also cited an incident from March of this year in which hundreds of violent illegal aliens clashed with Texas National Guardsmen who were protecting the Texas-Mexico border — revealing that there were more than 100 suspected members of Tren de Aragua in the crowd.
“Earlier this year, more than 100 suspected [Tren de Aragua] members were arrested after the riots at the El Paso border, when immigrants assaulted the Texas National Guard,” Abbott said.
Yesterday, I announced Texas is launching a statewide operation to go after the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.@TxDPS will coordinate with federal and local partners through Texas Anti-Gang Centers to stop these dangerous criminals.
Our #1 priority is keeping Texans safe. pic.twitter.com/LHH9lQaLt0
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 17, 2024
Footage of the violent invasion went viral on social media earlier this year showing hundreds of illegal aliens pushing past razor wire barriers and fighting with National Guardsmen, with one illegal alien even going so far as to stomp on a National Guard member’s knee. Despite the violence, a radical leftist judge dismissed charges against hundreds of these violent illegal aliens and allowed dozens to go free inside the United States.
Hundreds of illegal aliens overwhelm Texas troops in El Paso and storm the border
Americans are so sick and tired of seeing this invasion
ENOUGH pic.twitter.com/joycpX2wmv
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) March 21, 2024
Tren de Aragua members have been found all across the U.S., where they have committed thousands of crimes including robberies, attacking police officers, murdering American citizens, and the alleged violent takeover of apartment complexes in Colorado and Chicago.
