Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and 25 other attorneys general are supporting President Donald Trump’s actions combatting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization that started in a prison more than a decade ago, spread to the United States as illegal immigrants flooded the southern border. Members of the violent gang have exploited other Venezuelans who have migrated to the United States.
Marshall stated that the Trump administration’s actions against foreign threats are justified.
“Tren de Aragua is a violent terrorist organization with ties to Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela,” said Marshall. “TdA is responsible for numerous murders, as well as drug and human trafficking in our country. President Trump has a legitimate constitutional authority to protect our national security and American lives that have been put at risk by this invasion.”
A newly filed briefing calls for a stay of the district court’s restraining order attempting to halt the deportation of suspected gang members to El Salvador, asserting the order jeopardizes public safety and fails to “properly recognize the President's constitutional and statutory authority to protect national security.”
The gang is also known to exploit businesses in poor neighborhoods by making them pay for protection.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed last year that Jose Ibarra, the man who murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, was a member of Tren de Aragua.
In addition to Alabama, the South Carolina and Virginia co-led brief was signed by attorneys general in Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
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