Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, or TdA, nabbed national and international headlines after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo surfaced showing the group had given “the green light” for members to attack law enforcement, including the police in Denver.
TdA is linked to criminal activities that include human trafficking — particularly of immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping and money laundering.
During the summer, the Biden Administration signaled the escalating threat the gang posed by sanctioning TdA as a “transnational criminal organization.” The move put TdA in the same list as other criminal organizations, such as the MS-13 gang from El Salvador, which is also banned from doing business in the U.S.
TdA became a rallying call on the campaign trail as President-elect Donald Trump pointed to reports the gang had taken over three apartment complexes in Aurora to pledge a mass deportation program he named “Operation Aurora.”
Aurora officials had cited a laundry list of issues that included cockroaches, trash pileups and mold when shuttering Aspen Grove, a 99-unit complex owned by CBZ Management. Internal police emails, an investigation by the lender and letters to state and city officials showed the authorities had been aware of TdA’s presence for about a year. This month, the Aurora police arrested gang members in connection to allegations of home invasion, kidnapping and torture at another Aurora apartment.