As the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua continues to expand its influence in the United States, authorities say yet another member of the criminal organization is linked to an illegal immigrant accused of the brutal murder of a Georgia college student earlier this year.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is being held without bail on suspicion of killing nursing student Laken Riley, 22, while she was jogging on the University of Georgia campus in February. He has pleaded not guilty to a string of charges, including murder and kidnapping.
Authorities also arrested his brother, Diego Ibarra, 29, on suspicion of green card fraud for allegedly using false identity documents to get a job in Athens. Both men are suspected of having ties to Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Their younger brother, Argenis Ibarra, also entered the U.S. illegally and was deported twice before joining them in Georgia and is a suspected gang member. New York Post The report said Friday, citing a Department of Homeland Security source.
Violent Venezuelan prison gang invades US, becoming more organized and bold: ‘MS-13 on steroids’
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook after Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Allison Phillips/Facebook)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
An ICE spokesperson previously confirmed that Ibarra, the youngest, had illegally entered the US twice in 2023 – first on April 3 and then re-entered three weeks later. He was taken into ICE custody on Feb. 23 after authorities found him in Athens, Georgia, while searching for Riley’s killer.
National authorities have been warning about the violent Tren de Aragua gang for months.
TdA members have been implicated in a violent attack on police officers in New York City earlier this year, and more recently, Department of Homeland Security officials have warned that the gang is encouraging its members to kill police officers.
ICE arrests two Venezuelan gang members in connection to NYPD attack
Jose Ibarra appears in court for the Laken Riley murder hearing. (My)
The gang is also allegedly responsible for a rise in robberies using electric scooters as a getaway vehicle, organized retail thefts and human trafficking. Federal prosecutors say the gang is expanding, with bases in New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois and Georgia.
Gang imagery includes Chicago Bulls gear, tattoos of crowns, trains and other symbols, and hand gestures like the one pictured below.
Federal prosecutors say the hand sign shown here, with index finger, pinky and thumb extended and the other fingers clasped together, is a common gesture used by the Tren de Aragua prison gang. (Middle District of Georgia)
Tren de Aragua began its international expansion in 2018 with a turf war across the Colombian border, according to Insight Crime, a nonprofit that studies Colombian organized crime. latin america And the Caribbean.
Facing stiff competition in the drug trafficking business, the gang turned to human trafficking and smuggling.
Federal prosecutors said Tren de Aragua members often wear Chicago Bulls clothing even though they have no ties to Chicago and aren’t fans of the team. Investigators found this photo among several others that showed suspected gang member Diego Ibarra wearing Chicago Bulls items. (Middle District of Georgia)
Click here to get the FOX News app
As its operations have expanded, it has violently seized territory from smaller local groups, the nonprofit says, and it now operates in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil, and is expanding in the United States.
