Newly submitted court documents reveal just how many members of a ruthless Venezuelan gang are being held in government custody across the U.S.
There are roughly 54 Tren de Aragua (TdA) members currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, according to written testimony provided by Robert Cerna, an acting field office director with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division. Around 172 other TdA gangbangers are on the agency’s non-detained docket and approximately 32 members are in criminal custody with ICE detainers lodged against them.
Individuals on ICE’s non-detained docket are illegal migrants living in the U.S. and subject to deportation, but not currently in physical ICE custody. These individuals may be incarcerated at the local or state level, on ICE’s Alternatives-to-Detention program or out loose out in the community.
Cerna’s written testimony Monday pertains to the Trump administration’s efforts to expeditiously deport TdA gangbangers, which have been challenged in federal court.
The data sheds light on the international criminal syndicate’s presence in the U.S. since the illegal immigration crisis began under President Joe Biden several years ago.
TdA began as a prison gang in 2013 in the Venezuelan state of Aragua, and has since swelled to as many as 5,000 members internationally. The crime syndicate has a confirmed presence in at least 15 states, and possibly elsewhere in the U.S.
Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country under President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist autocratic leader who has overseen rampant inflation, economic turmoil and political repression. Many of those Venezuelans ended up making their way to the U.S., largely by illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Customs and Border Protection data show.
Some of the Venezuelans fleeing to American soil have ostensibly included members of the heinous gang. A Department of Homeland Security report leaked in October 2024 indicated that over 600 foreign nationals residing in the U.S. may have ties to TdA.
Suspected TdA gangbangers have been accused of deadly shootings and numerous other heinous crimes within the U.S., including the takeover of an entire apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.
“TDA is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth,” White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt said Sunday. “They rape, maim and murder for sport. TDA is responsible for some of the most heinous crimes that have occurred on US soil in recent years, including the murders of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray.”
President Donald Trump, who has vowed to conduct the largest deportation operation in the country’s history, has zeroed in on illegal migrant Venezuelan gang members specifically. The president Saturday invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority allowing him to more quickly arrest and deport TdA gangbangers.
Judge James Boasberg — chief judge of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia and appointee of former President Barack Obama — immediately ordered a temporary block of Trump’s Alien Enemies Act maneuver. However, three planes carrying 238 suspected and confirmed TdA gangbangers and 23 MS-13 gang members landed in the El Salvador International Airport several hours later.
Cerna’s written testimony to the court indicates that the Trump administration was not openly defying the judge’s demands, as the first two planes had already taken off before Boasberg’s written order. The third plane left at a later time, but every individual on board that flight had Title 8 final removal orders and thus was not solely subject to Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation, according to Cerna.
“To avoid any doubt, no one on any flight departing the United States after 7:25 PM EDT on March 15, 2025, was removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue,” Cerna wrote to the court.
The Trump administration, which has labeled TdA as a foreign terrorist organization, is currently appealing the Boasberg’s order and requesting he be assigned out of the court challenge.
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