The ruthless Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang is becoming a household name in the United States, rolling off the tongues of Republican politicians to attack the border policies of the Biden administration. Many Democrats, for their part, want you to dismiss reports of gang activity in the US as election-year exaggerations.

You should be wary of political rhetoric that paints all Venezuelan immigrants as violent criminals. The vast majority of them are not. But Tren de Aragua and a rival gang known as the Anti-Tren are real threats. While we do not know the full extent of their presence and crimes in the US, law enforcement records indicate that their ages have reached Texas and the Dallas area. A recent home invasion in Bluffview, near Dallas Love Field, underscores why local police agencies need to be on high alert, working with federal partners to counter this gang threat before it takes root in North Texas.

On September 21, four men cornered a woman as she entered her garage and forced her into the home at gunpoint. According to a police affidavit, the woman was pistol-whipped and tied with her own clothes while the men ransacked her home. They made off with $75,000 in jewelry, designer purses, a bank card and the woman’s iPhone.

Authorities linked a fingerprint from the crime scene to a Venezuelan man named Manuel Hernandez Hernandez, 28, who admitted to being present during the robbery and implicated four other suspects, including the getaway driver, according to a statement on own responsibility of the police. Hernandez Hernandez told police that the other suspects are part of the Anti-Tren gang – a group made up of former Tren de Aragua members – and that they are involved in sex trafficking. The man told detectives he has known one of the suspects for 15 years and that they grew up together.

“Manuel Hernandez-Hernandez claimed that he was not part of the gang, but that the other members were known to be involved in the promotion of prostitution and to possess firearms,” ​​the Dallas police affidavit said.

We are troubled by what we have learned about the men’s records. According to federal officials, Hernandez Hernandez crossed the border without being inspected in March near El Paso, and in May, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was sentenced to three days in jail. Officials did not say where.

Colleyville police arrested Hernandez Hernandez after a traffic stop on Sept. 19, days before the Dallas robbery. Records show he was cited for five misdemeanors, including possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without a license, and was released from jail the next day. A Colleyville police spokeswoman told us Hernandez Hernandez had no immigration detainer at the time of his release.

An immigration detainer is a notice that tells local officials that federal authorities intend to take custody of a suspect who is not a U.S. citizen and is eligible for deportation.

Another suspect, Carlos Alberto Martinez Silva, arrived in July at a US port of entry in California. He was admitted into the country pending immigration proceedings, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Two other robbery suspects — Yean Torrealba Sanabria and Wilmer Colmenares Gonzalez — encountered Border Patrol agents in 2023 near Eagle Pass and Brownsville, respectively. Both were released pending hearings in immigration court in Dallas in January 2025.

We do not know how the fifth suspect, Jarlen Flores Guana, entered the US. He and the other four robbery suspects now have immigration detainers, according to ICE and county records.

Our editorial board contacted the Dallas Police Department to inquire about the potential presence of Venezuelan gangs. The department declined our interview request.

I also contacted the FBI office in Dallas. The agency described its efforts to investigate gangs in broad terms. She said in a statement that she is pursuing violent gangs with her local and state partners through the Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Force and is working closely with the community to develop resources and generate leads.

It’s no surprise that would-be gang members came through the southern border. A recent federal audit found that the Department of Homeland Security’s technology and procedures were “not fully effective.” examination and verification of asylum seekers. The agency fails to rescreen asylum seekers for potential threats in the months and years it takes to adjudicate hundreds of thousands of asylum applications.

This problem is magnified when dealing with arrivals from Venezuela, a country with which the US has no diplomatic ties or data-sharing agreements.

Local police cannot control the vetting protocols of immigration authorities, but they can be proactive in sharing information with other law enforcement agencies and federal partners, especially when dealing with crimes such as sex trafficking, which often cross borders city ​​and states.

Earlier this year, three Venezuelan nationals with ties to Tren de Aragua were charged in connection with a sex-trafficking operation. According to a federal criminal complaint, a victim told Border Patrol agents in El Paso that a gang member paid for her to be smuggled into the U.S. and forced her to pay off her debt through prostitution. The woman said the gang had “secret homes” in Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey and Florida and that up to 30 women were trafficked. According to the complaint, local authorities searched a Baton Rouge apartment after a Spanish-speaking woman called to say she had been trafficked. Officers found money, condoms and ledger books.

“The ledger books appear to document how much money each victim earned each day and how much was left of their ‘debt,'” the federal complaint states.

Bianca Davis, CEO of New Friends New Life, a Dallas-based nonprofit that helps victims of trafficking, told us that the overwhelming majority of people they help are local, not immigrants. She said she expects the number of immigrants the organization helps to grow as it does more outreach and immigrant communities become more established.

Davis pointed out that sex trafficking can be subtle and doesn’t require victims to cross borders or even zip codes.

It’s important to see the big picture here and reject the fearmongering that blames undocumented immigrants for all the crime in our neighborhoods and cities. At the same time, our state and federal police and agencies must remain vigilant about international criminal groups and proactively share information with each other that can help our communities avoid threats.

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