Border czar vows to ‘target’ Tren de Aragua gang

(NewsNation) — President-elect Donald Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, tells NewsNation’s Ali Bradley criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua will be his “priority target,” and he will root them out once he takes office. 

“We’ve been saying from Day 1 that the priority right out of the gate is public safety threats and national security threats. Tren de Aragua is a public safety threat,” Homan said. “They have proven that they’re in at least 16 states across this country, and they’ll be a priority.”

Tren de Aragua is a gang that started in a prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua nearly a decade ago. It’s since expanded into what the Justice Department calls a “transnational criminal organization.”

The gang has spread to 16 U.S. states, according to a New York Post report citing an internal Department of Homeland Security memo. The Venezuelan gang is the fastest-growing transnational criminal organization, in part because the U.S. government cannot track criminal records in Venezuela. As such, members of the gang are more easily able to blend in with law-abiding migrants.

In Colorado, Aurora police have acknowledged that “components of Tren de Aragua” are operating in the area and have identified at least 10 known members. 

Homan vowed to “remove them” and says he’s been working with state and law enforcement to monitor the gang’s activity. 

“We’ll be attacking Tren de Aragua right where they operate, where they live, and we’re going to put them in detention,” he said. 

For the gang members who are applying for asylum, Homan said he will be putting on strict conditions of release. 

“Participating in gang activity is a violation of conditions of release, so at a minimum, we want to take them back into custody,” he said. 

Homan blamed President Joe Biden’s border policies as the reason why the U.S. hasn’t been able to force Venezuela to take the gang members back, but that will all change under Trump, he said. 

“Starting January 20, we’ll have a very strong America-first president who’s going to negotiate, if he needs to negotiate, or simply make these countries do what they should do,” Homan said.

“In the small chance they won’t take them back, then we’ll send them to other countries,” he said, adding that he is already in talks with several countries willing to take the gang members.