In late January, two New York Police officers were brutally attacked by about 15 illegal immigrants, apparently from Venezuela. Two of them, as confirmed by a spokeswoman for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), are members of the feared Tren de Aragua gang, one of the fastest growing criminal gangs in the world.
The detainees are Wilson Juárez, 21 years old; and Kelvin Servita-Arocha, 19; who were charged with the January 27 attack on officers in Times Square, the New York Post reported.
Both are detained without bail by ICE officials as alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, whose tentacles seem to have reached the Big Apple, where the gang is carrying out a transnational crime operation based on cell phone theft.
“Both unlawfully present Venezuelan citizens have been charged in conjunction with the violent gang assault carried out on two NYPD officers and are currently detailed without bond,” ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson told the NYP.
“Both noncitizens have been identified as members of the Tren de Aragua transnational criminal organization,” she added.
The attack suspects were captured by immigration agents inside a Bronx apartment after law enforcement executed an arrest warrant for another asylum seeker wanted in the Times Square attack.
“Arocha was arrested on an ICE warrant and will have his custody status re-evaluated, while Juarez was picked up on a deportation order from a judge in El Paso, Texas one year ago,” reads the New York Post.
Right now, there are eight migrants accused of the attack against the two agents on January 27: Juárez, Arocha, Darwin Andrés Gómez-Izquiel, 19 years old; Ulises Bohórquez, 21 years old; Yorman Reverón, 24; Yohenry Brito, 24; Jhoan Boada, 22; and Yarwuin Madris, 17. Seven others still need to be identified.
In an interview with Voz Media, Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Free and Secure Society and global security expert, explained that the Tren de Aragua is one of the fastest growing gangs on the entire planet, going from operating in two countries to ten in a matter of years.
“The Tren de Aragua is the fastest growing transnational organized crime group in the world. About six years ago they had a presence in two countries, in South America, and currently they have a presence in ten countries throughout the Western Hemisphere, including the United States,” Humire told Voz Media, and went on to explain that one of the characteristics of this criminal group is to exploit Venezuelan migration, extorting or recruiting immigrants in vulnerable situations.
“I don't think I know of any other group that is growing at that level, at that speed, and at the same time taking advantage of the largest migration in the world: Venezuelan migration. Vulnerable people that they have practically exploited to be able to have a presence in all those countries,” said the expert.
The criminal portfolio of the gang, which has hit countries such as Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Chile, is very extensive: extortion (the original crime of the Tren de Aragua), kidnapping, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, migrant trafficking, smuggling, illegal mining, drug trafficking, cybercrime and theft.
It is a fearsome gang due to its methods of violence to subdue its victims and control territory.
It is recognized, above all, for its crimes against women (rape and dismemberment) and for the way it recruits and/or subdues Venezuelan immigrants.
Privately, New York authorities presume that members of the Tren de Aragua are behind the wave of cell phone thefts on motorcycles that is sweeping the five boroughs of New York City.
According to an initial report from the New York Post, the Police are investigating an alleged transnational crime operation behind the robberies and thefts. The modus operandi is simple: first, the bank accounts of those robbed are left without cash, with fraudulent transactions in both the United States and South America. The stolen phones are then sent to Colombia to be erased, reprogrammed and eventually sold.
