WASHINGTON – The newly launched interagency task force of the Virginia FBI has arrested 214 people in a two-week blitz, with the post rounding up members of violent gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.
Interagency Task Force – the first of its kind – coordinated law enforcement agencies are trying to lock down criminals and illegal immigrants across the state.
Coordinated efforts resulted in four arrests, 18 MS-13 members and 16 people involved in other gangsters or cross-border organized crime.
Although it has been carried out in Virginia so far, FBI director Kash Patel said he hopes the department can expand its efforts to all states.
“This is an FBI-led interagency task force established to attack violent criminals and illegals who are hurting our citizens and our way of life,” Patel told the Post.
“This is a simple ceremony that led to hundreds of arrests within less than two weeks, and we will work day and night to expand this effort to all states in the country. America: More help is underway.”
Law enforcement agencies involved included members of various FBI field offices, Border Patrol, ICE enforcement and removal operations, Virginia State Police, Virginia Department of Corrections, and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents.
Patel vowed to prioritize the FBI's efforts to defeat violent criminals and those involved in Narco's trafficking. He said he was “abdomen” for other crimes like human trafficking and terrorism.
Tren de Aragua was already flagged by the Department of Homeland Security in November as a growing gang in Virginia and surrounding Metro DC regions, spreading across 16 states across the United States.
The violent gang members are specifically targeting DC and northern Northern Virginia due to their proximity to high-end shopping areas in the suburbs.
Members of the horrifying gangster MS-13 were also known to have scaffolding in Virginia before. One gang member has faced trial in October in half a dozen murders over the past five years.
The criminals arrested included members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Last week, the FBI and our federal, state and local partners launched the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force, the first of many task forces that coordinate ongoing immigration enforcement efforts and focus on combating organized crime across borders,” Rozhabski said the task force is “achieving incredible progress towards the goal of eradication.” [transnational criminal organizations] Virginia and throughout the United States. ”
Retired Drug Enforcement Director Brian Townsend recently warned that the Sinaloa Cartel is spreading to small American communities and is one of the “inner mind” gangs of fentanyl drug smuggling across borders.
All three gangs have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the State Department, making supporting US groups illegal.
The coalition of law enforcement to eradicate crime is part of President Trump's bigger goal of deporting immigrants involved in illegal drug trafficking and violent crimes.
The FBI reports that it specifically directs people involved in Nicolas Maduro's Venezuelan administration to crack down on people involved in oppressive regimes and “dirty business.”
