White House announces charges against dozens of Tren de Aragua gang members
During last year's campaign, President Donald Trump pledged that he would crack down on foreign criminal organizations.
The White House touted that promise this week when it announced that charges have been filed against Venezuelan gang members.
Prosecutors point to murder-for-hire plot
According to Fox News, the individuals in question allegedly belong to Tren de Aragua (TdA) and were operating in multiple states, including Colorado.
"These defendants include Tren de Aragua leaders, members, and associates," U.S. Attorney for Colorado Peter McNeilly was quoted as saying at a Monday press conference.
"The charges include firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, and a barbaric murder for hire plot in which several of the defendants agreed to kill two people for $15,000 and return their severed heads as proof of the murders for just an extra $5,000," McNeilly explained.
"The charges tell a story of people selling guns and drugs – lots of them. The affidavits which have been filed in this case also tell a story of a murder-for-hire plot and other crimes that the defendants were willing to commit, such as sex trafficking," he continued.
ATF says fully automatic weapons were seized
McNeilly noted how one of the suspects allegedly "offered to commit murders in this case [and] bragged to the undercover officers that the people he would use to commit those murders were the very same people that we had seen committing crimes on the news in these apartment complexes in Aurora."
Among those charged are Luis Fernando Uribe-Torrealba and Luis Henriquez-Charaima, who have been hit with charges of murder-for-hire, carjacking, as well as trafficking in drugs and firearms.
Meanwhile, ATF Special Agent in Charge Brent Beavers said some of the seized firearms had been privately made, with one being capable of fully automatic fire.
"By removing these firearms from the street, we disrupted a dangerous cycle of violence, preventing further harm to our communities and sending a clear message to criminal networks," he stated.
"We are here and together at a local and federal level, and we will bring you to justice," the federal law enforcement officer went on to stress.
Trump declares TdA to be a terrorist organization
This past March, the president signed a proclamation earlier which designated TdA as being a foreign terrorist organization.
The document accused TdA of "conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States" on behalf of Venezuela's Maduro regime.
"TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States," it maintained.
