San Antonio police chief to criminal Venezuelan gangs: 'We're coming for you'

Texas law enforcement agencies are aggressively arresting men illegally in the country who are confirmed members of the violent Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua (TDA).

Recent arrests are in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston.

San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus announced the results of a multi-agency task force operation launched after the SAPD received complaints “about multiple narcotics violations, human trafficking, and threats to apartment personnel” at an apartment complex in the northern part of the city.

The task force had information that TDA members “were in control of the area and committing various crimes” at the complex, he said. SAPD officers and DPS troopers cleared nearly 300 vacant apartments there on Saturday and processed over 20 people they arrested. Four are confirmed TDA members; one is a confirmed enforcer for the gang, he said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Enforcement and Removal Operations officers took all four into custody.

Of the 20 arrested, 19 have 15 ICE holds against them, he said. Several arrested have confirmed warrants; multiple individuals already had removal orders, he said.

“We want to assure the community and members of the public that we are committed to their safety,” he said. “We are on top of this TDA issue” and Saturday’s operation “is just one example of that commitment.” The apartment complex they targeted was “just the first one. We've got other places that we are going to hit,” he said.

The operation is ongoing, had been in the works for weeks and the gang had been operating in the city for several months, he said.

He also issued a warning to TDA gang members, saying: “We are on to you and we're coming for you. We know where you are and we're coming for you.”

Farther north, four Venezuelan TDA gang members were recently arrested for aggravated robbery of a woman in her home near the Dallas Fort Worth Airport after an hours-long stand-off with police, Fox 4 News reported. The robbery survivor was beaten with a gun, tied up and threatened to have her fingers cut off, WFAA News reported.

All four Venezuelan men arrested are illegally in the country and have ICE detainers. One was previously arrested by Colleyville police and was released one day before the robbery. Two others aren’t in custody.

In Houston, a Texas DPS special agent assigned to the Texas Anti-Gang Center arrested a TDA member also in the U.S. He was scheduled for an asylum hearing Oct. 7, Texas DPS announced.

He “was wanted out of Pearland, Texas for theft,” DPS said. “Over the course of the investigation, investigators observed tattoos on Cova’s arms including a five-point crown and a clock and roses – all known TDA markings.”

The arrests were made after Texas DPS officers arrested TDA members in El Paso and a judge ordered a hotel be shut down there after numerous reports of alleged criminal activity.

The efforts come after Gov. Greg Abbott declared the TDA a foreign terrorist organization and directed resources for law enforcement to pursue them. The designation allows the state to “bring the full weight of the government against the TDA,” he said. It enables “Texas courts to halt their operations using civil asset forfeiture, take their property, and use enhanced criminal penalties to keep them in jail behind bars for longer periods of time.”

Abbott directed law enforcement to aggressively pursue TDA gang members he argues are terrorizing Texans after they illegally entered the U.S., weren’t vetted, and were released into the country because of Biden-Harris administration “open border policies.”

Texas DPS is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of TDA gang members.

“Tren de Aragua has spread terror and carnage in every country they've been in, and Texas will not allow them to gain a foothold in our state,” Abbott said. He announced the reward “for any information that leads to the identification and arrest of known or suspected members of this gang who have been or are involved in heinous crimes. Texas will not let these thugs use our state as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens.”

TDA gang members are known for brutal violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking, Abbott said, and are linked to more than 100 law enforcement investigations nationwide.