The Venezuelan government is not controlling Tren de Aragua, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence community memo that undercuts President Trump’s argument for using the Alien Enemies Act to deport TdA members.
The Maduro regime does allow TdA to operate but does not maintain structural close ties, doesn’t have a policy of cooperating, and isn’t orchestrating the gang’s operations in the U.S., the National Intelligence Council reported in the memo, dated April 7 and released Monday.
Analysts said reporting that regime leaders are involved with the gang is “not credible,” and indeed the Maduro regime sees the gang as a threat, not an ally.
“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TdA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TdA and is not directing TdA movement to and operations in the United States,” the intelligence analysis concluded.
Mr. Trump has publicly argued to the contrary.
His administration has classified TdA as a foreign terrorist organization.
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And in Mr. Trump’s proclamation triggering the Alien Enemies Act, he said TdA is being directed by the Maduro regime and is engaged in an invasion of the U.S.
He said that allows him to use the AEA to speed deportations of TdA suspects. It was that law that he used to deport roughly 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador in March.
Immigration advocates have said Mr. Trump got it wrong. They said he oversold the organizational abilities and threat from TdA and wrongly asserted foreign-government control.
Without those elements, they said, Mr. Trump’s use of the AEA to deport gang suspects is illegal.
Two federal judges have now ruled that Mr. Trump did not prove TdA was part of an orchestrated, armed incursion, so it failed the “invasion” test under the AEA.
The second of those decisions came Tuesday, when U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee to the court in New York, issued a preliminary injunction.
“There is nothing in the AEA that justifies a finding that refugees migrating from Venezuela, or TdA gangsters who infiltrate the migrants, are engaged in an ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion,’” the judge wrote.
“They do not seek to occupy territory, to oust American jurisdiction from any territory, or to ravage territory. TdA may well be engaged in narcotics trafficking, but that is a criminal matter, not an invasion or predatory incursion,” he said.
Judge Hellerstein also scolded Mr. Trump for the deportations in March, saying that set the stage for his own ruling.
“The sweep for removal is ongoing, extending to the litigants in this case and others, thwarted only by order of this and other federal courts. The destination, El Salvador, a country paid to take our aliens, is neither the country from which the aliens came, nor to which they wish to be removed. But they are taken there, and there to remain, indefinitely, in a notoriously evil jail, unable to communicate with counsel, family or friends,” the judge said.
Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice, said the newly released intelligence memo proves Mr. Trump’s claims are a “fabricated lie” that’s been used to deny illegal immigrants due process.
“This is dangerous and irresponsible and the tip of the spear in their larger assault on democratic principles, our constitutional separation of powers, and basic rights and protections that all Americans rely on,” she said.
The Justice Department recently announced RICO cases against TdA and splinter groups, accusing them of extortion, firearms and drug trafficking and smuggling in illegal immigrants — particularly women trafficked for sex.
“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,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in announcing the RICO indictments.
Analysts in the intelligence memo, though, said the group has small cells and focuses on “low-skill criminal activities,” and isn’t involved in high volumes of human trafficking or smuggling illegal immigrants.
