WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged an alleged high-ranking member of Tren de Aragua in Colombia with terrorism offenses, making the first case of its kind against a member of the gang the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization, officials said Wednesday.
The case is part of a broad push to target Tren de Aragua or TdA, a Venezuelan gang that has been blamed for drug smuggling and violence in the United States. President Donald Trump has labeled the gang an invading force under an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison as part of Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
The Justice Department’s application of a criminal statute primarily reserved in recent years for extremist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida underscores the extent to which the administration is relying on a strikingly expansive definition of terrorism as it pursues a national security agenda focused on drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
“TdA is not a street gang – it is a highly structured terrorist organization that put down roots in our country during the prior administration,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Today’s charges represent an inflection point in how this Department of Justice will prosecute and ultimately dismantle this evil organization, which has destroyed American families and poisoned our communities.”
Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, 24, was charged in Texas federal court with drug offenses as well as conspiring to provide and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors described him as part of the “inner circle of TdA leadership,” and accuse him of playing a role in the international distribution of cocaine.
He is in custody in Colombia awaiting further proceedings. The Justice Department said he faces up to life in prison.
The material support statute has long been a favored tool of the Justice Department to build prosecutions against people who are suspected of facilitating the operations of a militant group but not always carrying out violence themselves.
The addition of TdA to the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations enables the Justice Department to wield the statute against individuals suspected of supporting that group.
The announcement comes days after prosecutors announced what they said was the first case to bring federal racketeering charges, which were famously used to bring down the Mafia, against the Venezuelan street gang.