A task force of federal, state and local authorities has arrested more than 40 people in Hays County who are accused of being members of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Hays County sheriff’s deputies, working with agents from the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations, made the arrests Tuesday morning. The suspects, who included minors, were apprehended at or near a Hays County residence, and narcotics were seized, officials said in a statement Wednesday.
FBI and ICE agents, along with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the San Antonio Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies have worked for more than a year to investigate and develop intelligence on the transnational gang, authorities said in the statement. They obtained a search warrant ahead of Tuesday’s arrests.
Tren de Aragua originated in a prison in Aragua, Venezuela, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The Biden administration designated the group as a major transnational criminal organization that posed a threat to U.S. communities.
Known by the acronym TdA, the gang has been implicated in crimes such as human smuggling, human trafficking of immigrant women and girls, extortion and drug trafficking.
In September, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated TdA as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Shortly after his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump also declared TdA a terrorist organization and has had the U.S. Department of Justice focus on nationwide apprehensions of those believed to be members or associates of the gang.
Since then, numerous arrests have occurred throughout the nation, with many of those arrested being deported and flown out of the country.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Task force nabs more than 40 people with alleged ties to Tren de Aragua in Hays County
Reporting by Elizabeth Zavala / Austin American-Statesman
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
