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FBI Confirms Tren de Aragua Linked to Venezuelan Government

May 1, 2025/in Courts & Law, Criminal Illegal Aliens, Elections, Featured, Hot Topics, Immigration, National Security, News, Policy, Politics, Socialism, Terrorism/by Family Research Council

A new report is confirming what President Donald Trump has stated for months: the Venezuelan government is weaponizing criminal gangs and sending foreign terrorists into the U.S. According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assessment shared with Fox News, Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolás Maduro and his deputies are using criminals from the Tren de Aragua (TdA) transnational gang as “proxies” to “destabilize” foreign nations, including Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the U.S. The FBI anticipates that TdA members the Venezuelan government has sent to the U.S. will, within the next six to 18 months, begin targeting and killing other Venezuelan nationals who have been opponents or critics of Maduro’s administration.

“These findings should shock Americans but not the law enforcement community,” an unnamed Trump administration official commented to Fox News. He added, “They reflect the sentiments of numerous other intelligence assessments across multiple agencies.” The official stated, “Nicholas [sic] Maduro is a Marxist dictator who hijacked a once-prosperous Venezuela and brought in nothing but total economic collapse and gang takeover. He crumbled Caracas, now overrun with drugs and violence, and wants to do the same across the United States by sending his most violent and dangerous criminals into our communities.” He continued, “The Trump administration will continue to use every authority in our power to make sure these TdA terrorists, who are some of the worst in the world, are kept out of our country.”

An official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) confirmed that the Venezuelan government is actively “aiding and abetting” TdA and offering the criminal organization “sanctuary.” TdA leadership, the ODNI official said, has often been “located” in Venezuela and has “broadly benefited from conditions in Venezuela created by the Venezuelan government.” Venezuela’s government has also “been eager to welcome violent TdA criminals back to Venezuela, providing further proof they see them as allies. Again, this mirrors the behavior of the Taliban in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern failed states like Syria and Libya that have welcomed terrorists with open arms,” the official said.

According to a report from the Associated Press, the contents of a National Intelligence Council assessment seemingly contradict the FBI’s and ODNI’s findings, claiming that there is no link between Maduro’s government and TdA. The unnamed ODNI official clarified that the FBI’s and ODNI’s recent assessments are more “robust and accurate given their focus on domestic security and crimes, versus limited intelligence assessments from other intelligence elements who by law focus solely on foreign intelligence collection and who, until President Trump took office, had very limited resources focused on TdA.” The official said that the Associated Press report was based on information from “illegal leakers” and said that “propaganda media conveniently did not include [more accurate intelligence] because it gets in the way of their biased narrative and attempt to deceive the American people.”

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard also criticized the Associated Press report, as well as the intelligence officers responsible for leaking classified information. “The weaponization of intelligence to undermine the President’s agenda is an assault on democracy. Those behind this illegal leak of classified intelligence, twisted and manipulated to convey the exact opposite finding, will be held accountable under the full force of the law,” Gabbard said in a social media post. She continued, “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence fully supports the assessment that the foreign terrorist organization, Tren De Aragua, is acting with the support of the Maduro Regime, and thus subject to arrest, detention and removal as alien enemies of the United States.”

In late February, the State Department formally classified TdA as a foreign terrorist organization. A few weeks later, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798 to target Venezuelan nationals affiliated or associated with TdA for arrest and deportation. In his invocation, the president stated that TdA is “conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States” by “commit[ing] brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking.”

“TdA is closely aligned with, and indeed has infiltrated, the Maduro regime, including its military and law enforcement apparatus,” the president announced. He continued, “Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including TdA. The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States.”

Earlier this week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that nearly 30 TdA leaders and members had been charged with crimes under Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The 27 TdA members were charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking conspiracy, drug trafficking conspiracy, robbery, and firearms offenses. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release, “Tren de Aragua is not just a street gang — it is a highly structured terrorist organization that has destroyed American families with brutal violence, engaged in human trafficking, and spread deadly drugs through our communities.”

Most of the TdA members charged in the indictment have been operating in New York City, illegally trafficking women into the city from Venezuela and Peru and forcing them into prostitution, committing murders and armed robberies, and flooding the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx with a “pink powdery drug” called “tusi,” which contains ketamine. TdA gangsters in New York also relied on violence to combat rival gangs and hunt down and execute former TdA members, especially those who had joined splinter groups.

Shortly afterwards, the DOJ announced terrorist charges against a TdA leader for the first time. Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, alleged to be a high-ranking TdA officer, was charged with supporting and conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization, largely through the sale of large quantities of cocaine. Bondi commented, “TdA is not a street gang — it is a highly structured terrorist organization that put down roots in our country during the prior administration.” FBI Director Kash Patel added, “TdA is a direct threat to our national security, to our communities, and to Americans.” He further pledged to “eliminate this violent terrorist organization from our streets.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Trump Eyes Sanctions on Immigration Lawyers as Deportation ‘Due Process’ Conflict Escalates

March 26, 2025/in Courts & Law, Elections, Featured, Hot Topics, Lawfare, National Security, News, Policy, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Family Research Council

President Donald Trump and his administration are continuing their crackdown against illegal immigration, despite the hurdles presented by left-wing activists and restrictive court rulings. Over the weekend, the president ordered U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to impose various sanctions against attorneys and law firms which use unethical means to manipulate immigration courts.

In his memo to Bondi and Noem, the president wrote, “Lawyers and law firms that engage in actions that violate the laws of the United States or rules governing attorney conduct must be efficiently and effectively held accountable. Accountability is especially important when misconduct by lawyers and law firms threatens our national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity.” Pointing to the pervasive corruption plaguing immigration courts, he continued:

“The immigration system — where rampant fraud and meritless claims have supplanted the constitutional and lawful bases upon which the President exercises core powers under Article II of the United States Constitution — is likewise replete with examples of unscrupulous behavior by attorneys and law firms. For instance, the immigration bar, and powerful Big Law pro bono practices, frequently coach clients to conceal their past or lie about their circumstances when asserting their asylum claims, all in an attempt to circumvent immigration policies enacted to protect our national security and deceive the immigration authorities and courts into granting them undeserved relief. Gathering the necessary information to refute these fraudulent claims imposes an enormous burden on the Federal Government. And this fraud in turn undermines the integrity of our immigration laws and the legal profession more broadly — to say nothing of the undeniable, tragic consequences of the resulting mass illegal immigration, whether in terms of heinous crimes against innocent victims like Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, or Rachel Morin, or the enormous drain on taxpayer resources intended for Americans.”

The president wrote, “To address these concerns, I hereby direct the Attorney General to seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States.” He also demanded that Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ):

“take all appropriate action to refer for disciplinary action any attorney whose conduct in Federal court or before any component of the Federal Government appears to violate professional conduct rules, including rules governing meritorious claims and contentions, and particularly in cases that implicate national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity. In complying with this directive, the Attorney General shall consider the ethical duties that law partners have when supervising junior attorneys, including imputing the ethical misconduct of junior attorneys to partners or the law firm when appropriate.”

Examples of punitive measures the president named include revoking security clearances held by attorneys or cancelling government contracts with individual attorneys or law firms. The president also instructed Bondi to review litigation against the federal government over the last eight years and identify instances of “misconduct that may warrant additional action, such as filing frivolous litigation or engaging in fraudulent practices…” He concluded, “Law firms and individual attorneys have a great power, and obligation, to serve the rule of law, justice, and order. The Attorney General, alongside the Counsel to the President, shall report to the President periodically on improvements by firms to capture this hopeful vision.”

The president’s order to the attorney general and Homeland Security secretary comes as numerous federal courts have restricted the Trump administration’s executive actions, including efforts to deport known criminals and members of foreign terrorist organizations. In a recent controversial move, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg demanded that the Trump administration halt the deportation of members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, which has been formally classified as a foreign terrorist organization, and ordered that planes deporting at least 250 TdA members be returned to the U.S. Boasberg’s court order prompted calls for impeachment from the president and even a rare public comment from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Notably, Boasberg’s court order blocked the president from invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law which allows the president to forcibly remove noncitizens from enemy countries during times of war or invasion. While some have claimed that use of the over-200-year-old law violates the due process of illegal immigrants, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Trump’s top immigration advisor, has vocally defended the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, as have other administration officials.

In an interview Sunday, border czar and former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan rejected claims that the Trump administration is violating the law and insisted that use of the Alien Enemies Act is just “using the laws on the books. We’re not making this up.” When questioned about the “due process” afforded to deported TDA members, Homan angrily pointed to the violence committed by TdA and other illegal immigrants. “Where is Laken Riley’s due process? Where are all these young women killed and raped by members of the TdA? Where was their due process? The young woman on the subway, where is her due process?” he asked. He continued, “The bottom line is, that plane was full of people designated as terrorists, number one. Number two, every Venezuelan migrant on that flight was a TdA member based on numerous criminal investigations, on intelligence reports, and a lot of work by ICE officers.” The border czar added, “They were given due process according to the laws on the books.”

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz also defended the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act on Sunday. “President Trump has determined that this group is acting as a terrorist organization. It is terrorizing our communities through attacks, torture, rape and the most awful of situations for those communities, number one,” Waltz stated.

He continued, “Number two, the Alien [Enemies] Act fully applies because we have also determined that this group is acting as a proxy of the [Venezuelan president Nicolas] Maduro regime. TDA is acting as a proxy of the Maduro regime. This is how the Alien [Enemies] Act applies. And we cannot have district judges interfering with the commander in chief’s actions to take care of — in the way he deems necessary — a terrorist organization.”

The president’s National Security Adviser accused Maduro, whom the first Trump administration labelled a dictator, of “deliberately emptying his prisons in a proxy manner to influence and attack the United States,” adding, “President Trump is taking decisive action to rid our communities of these gangs that are operating in a paramilitary fashion…”

Some, however, have anticipated that courts may require the use of due process even in cases involving TdA and other foreign terrorist organizations. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday explained, “There are some big legal questions here. On the one hand, The Bill of Rights applies to everyone, to persons. The Bill of Rights doesn’t specifically designate citizens. It’s anyone in the United States, The Bill of Rights applies to.” He continued, “On the other end, The Alien and Enemies act says you don’t get much process. The president can declare that you are somehow a problem for foreign policy and opposed to our foreign policy you can be deported.”

“Ultimately, this goes to the court,” the senator admitted, adding, “I think the courts will rule there has to be [due] process.” He continued, “I think there’s going to be a process afforded by the courts for representation before you are deported in most cases. I don’t know about the ones under the Alien Enemies Act. I’m not sure anybody knows that.” Paul predicted, “I think it goes to the Supreme Court and there are arguments to be made on both sides.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.