Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua gives ‘green light’ to members to shoot US cops, Homeland Security memo warns
Members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have been given the “green light” to attack and open fire on cops in Denver, a federal memo obtained by The Post reveals.
The gang is already tied to hundreds of crimes, including the shootings of two NYPD cops who were trying to arrest one of its members in June.
“Credible human sources from Colorado provided information on TdA [Tren de Aragua] giving a ‘green light’ to fire on or attack law enforcement,” said the memo, from the Homeland Security Investigations office in Chicago.
“As you may know, we have a TdA presence here in Chicago, so please be vigilant as you encounter TdA members or affiliates during your investigative and operational activities.”
The memo added that “Credible human sources from Colorado provided” the intelligence via the Albuquerque Police Department.
The warning comes as Denver has gotten 42,000 migrants — more per capita than any other US city — and many of them are from Venezuela.
The prison gang, whose name means “The Aragua Train” — a reference to the Aragua region in Venezuela — has infiltrated the US by sending members posing as asylum seekers across the southern border.
From there, its members have flocked to major US cities including New York, Chicago, Miami and Denver, where they engage in money laundering, gun smuggling, theft and human trafficking, according to reports.
The US Border Patrol only began tracking the group last year and has recorded catching 70 of its members, according to federal data.
However, many are getting past law enforcement at the border and its vetting processes because younger members are careful not to get gang tattoos or other identifiers in order to stay under the radar, sources have told The Post.
Right now, “it’s far too easy for criminals to enter the US,” a Border Patrol source told The Post.
“We have zero access to other nations’ criminal databases and with this administration’s uselessness in deterring these criminals, they will keep entering undetected,” said the source.
The gang has been the subject of more than 100 criminal investigations opened by federal authorities, according to NBC News.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration designated the gang as a transnational criminal organization and began offering a $12 million reward for the arrests of its leaders.
Venezuelan migrant Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, 19, who is accused of shooting two NYPD officers on June 3, allegedly told cops he was recruited by the Venezuelan gang’s Big Apple “coordinator” to join its “snatch and grab” moped thieves.
After illegally crossing the border into Texas last July, Castro Mata allegedly said he was encouraged to get gang tattoos to prove his allegiance, sources previously told The Post.
Castro Mata also revealed that the gang has been smuggling guns into New York City’s migrant shelters in food delivery bags.
It’s also believed that the gang is tied to the assault on two cops in Times Square that occurred in January.
