Jose Ybarra, the criminal alien accused of punching Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in the skull, Torren de Aragua, an emerging prison gang in Venezuela.so is his brother Diego, is also in custody in Georgia for other crimes. How many more skullbreakers have crossed the border? That’s it: we don’t know. Assume virtually unlimited supply.
We know that the prevalence of this violent group in the United States is increasing alarmingly. The real danger is even greater as federal agencies such as the FBI are preoccupied with other matters, such as the investigation into Blaze Media’s Steve Baker. The international gangs that should be at the heart of federal law enforcement are giving the lie to their claims that “domestic extremism” is the greatest threat to our nation.
There will be many more Laken Rileys unless we allow states to begin removing criminal aliens.
If the federal government won’t address the problem, state and local governments had better do so before it’s too late.
“The Aragua train is in the United States,” said Britton Boyd, FBI deputy special agent in charge of El Paso. told CNN Spanish. In January. “There is already evidence that they have crossed the border. They are crossing and there is a presence.”
How dangerous is Torren de Aragua? Imagine a new version of MS-13. MS-13 is a nihilistic Salvadoran street gang that has taken control in El Salvador but continues to terrorize parts of the American Southwest and Northeast. The difference is that Torren de Aragua has ties to the terrorist regime in Venezuela, which means it also has ties to Hezbollah and Iran.
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan “asylum seekers” have entered the United States in the past three years, reassuringly including thousands of Torren de Aragua thugs and murderers. That would be good.
Attacks on police and theft increase
Remember the illegal alien who assaulted two New York City police officers in Times Square last month? Seven of the 14 people believed to have been involved were indicted. At least two of his Confirmed members of Torren de Aragua.
Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Safe and Free Society and one of the country’s leading experts on Latin American issues, said attacks on police officers are a trademark of the Aragua gang.
“Chile was one of the first confirmed cases of assault on police officers, and basically in this case Torren de Aragua attacked and killed a police officer, and that became a big issue.” Humire said. interview on my podcast. “That’s why Chile has taken such a tough stance against Venezuelan immigrants and has begun deporting many Venezuelans for attacking law enforcement.”
Humire said Aragua members are calling for “rebellion against the rule of law” in order to “undermine public confidence in law and order.” This is what they did in South America, and if allowed to gain a firm foothold in the United States, they will do the same here.
Earlier this year, members of Torren de Aragua were arrested on suspicion of brutally murdering a former Venezuelan police officer living in the United States. seduced by his death By a group of prostitutes. Aragua gangs have long used prostitutes as part of their street crime honey traps and as a source of income. Just as drug trafficking is the currency of Mexican cartels, sex trafficking is the currency of gangs.
New York City has also seen an increase in cell phone and scooter thefts in recent months.of NYPD says Aragua steals cell phones, unlocks the owners’ banking information, and sells the phones to vendors in Latin America. This was revealed by law enforcement officials. new york post The gang is “likely to be involved in many of the moped robberies as well.”
Like Chicago, which has a sizable population of recently arrived Venezuelan nationals, New York has seen a spike in property crimes correlated with the influx of newcomers. The number of robberies in 2024 increased citywide by 9% compared to the same period last year, and compared to 2022 he increased by 14%. Grand theft cases also increased by 1.6% year over year.
Creation of the Venezuelan regime
Joseph Humia argues that the gang’s origins and continued ties to the socialist regime in Caracas make Torren de Aragua even more of a national security threat than MS-13.
“In 2011, Hugo Chávez created the Ministry of Prisons and appointed a woman. Iris Varela To be the chaplain of all the prisons in Venezuela,” Humire told me. “So he took over a prison system that was fragmented and consolidated it under this ministry where Varela handed over the prisons to the prisoners in Aragua. Concentrate them in Aragua, one of her 23 states.
Humire also pointed out that the central figure in the creation of the gang was Tarek El Aissami from Venezuela. former vice presidentHe is of Syrian descent and has ties to Hezbollah. When the gang was founded in 2012, he was governor of Aragua state, before Mr. Aissami became vice president, then minister of industry and then minister of oil.
“The other day, [Aissami] “We revised the penal code to lower the barriers to entry into the police force, and as a result the police force became increasingly corrupted by these new integrated prison gangs,” Humire explained. “He created the conditions and incentives for what was previously known as the maximum prison system, which was loosely made up of prison gangs, to essentially organize itself like an army.”
As a result, the Venezuelan government essentially weaponized the prison system and created gangs that have become the world’s fastest-growing transnational criminal organizations. Similar to how Iran empowered Hezbollah, which began in Lebanon in 1992 and now has a presence around the world.
The corrupt immigration authorities in Venezuela that distributed false travel documents to Hezbollah operatives probably did the same to gang members in Aragua so that the government could control the flow of migrants into our communities through the gangs. Mr. Humire warns that there is no such thing.
“Through this process, the Venezuelan government will also know the exact travel patterns, so they can predict them,” Humire said. “They can move before that. And they could start taking advantage of it along the way. You won’t get that information unless you talk to the Venezuelan ministries.”
So we’re facing a gang with MS-13 levels of brutality. This gang is more brazen in its attacks on Americans and law enforcement, more closely involved in the trafficking of illegal aliens, and more likely directed by a foreign terrorist state. .
This is why the Republican Party cannot afford to sit idly by and waste its influence in the fight against invasion. Countries must begin arresting and removing criminal aliens. Countries should also designate Torren de Aragua as a transnational gang and pass criminal laws that increase sentencing for gang members. Therefore, if an Aragua member were arrested for stealing a cell phone, he would face harsher penalties than a typical petty theft case.
We have only a short time to fight this epidemic before it becomes permanently established in society. Governors must take decisive action to eradicate criminal alien gangs, not posing for photos at the border. There will be many more Laken Rileys unless we allow states to begin removing criminal aliens.
