New York State National Guard troops are being told to check all migrants arriving in the Big Apple for distinctive tattoos linking them to the vicious Venezuelan “Tren de Aragua” street gang , The Post has learned.
The decree comes as the NYPD this week issued a “Situational Awareness Alert” warning that the brutal gang is increasingly making its presence known in the five boroughs — with members claiming asylum at the US border and flocking to New York to join other gangbangers.
“It’s to a point that they had to post policies on use of force like if we were in a combat zone,” one National Guard source said Wednesday.
“Tren de Aragua” — Spanish for Aragua Train, a shout-out to the gang’s origins as a railroad labor union in Aragua, Venezuela — is growing in numbers in the Big Apple and has been linked by law enforcement to a recent spree of cellphone robberies, The Post revealed this week .
The brutal gang is now firmly on the NYPD’s radar, with the new bulletin warning: “Tren de Aragua’s newly established presence in New York City may incite further gang-related violence — including stabbings, assaults and robberies — raising public safety concerns.”