According to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who spoke about the matter on Wednesday, January 29, during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” immigration authorities captured a “ringleader” of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in New York City. He was apparently trying to buy grenades when captured.
As background, Tren de Aragua is the violent gang known mainly for taking over an apartment block in Aurora, Colorado, and then was found out as having taken over similar apartment blocks across the country. It is known for inflicting severe and horrific levels of violence on its victims and is composed nearly entirely of migrants from Venezuela.
Noem was there when the “ringleader” was captured because she, in her role as DHS Secretary, was alongside federal immigration authorities like ICE in New York City on Tuesday, January 28, while those immigration officials carried out sweeping raids meant to capture violent illegal aliens so that they could be deported.
In any case, Noem, commenting on the immigration raid while speaking on Fox News, noted that he was trying to buy grenades when captured, saying, “He had just been a part of a gun weapons exchange and was trying to buy grenades. Why would anybody in this country need to buy a grenade and go out and perpetuate violence?”
Commenting on the situation generally, Noem explained that average people in even the sanctuary cities are all on board with immigration enforcement, even if their elected leaders are not. She said, “What was amazing is you’ll hear people and Democrat leaders in different cities, like New York City, some of their city council members have tried to attack what we’re doing as far as enforcing our laws. But the people on the streets are not with them.”
Continuing, Noem gave another example of that, noting that the average people were thanking them for enforcing immigration law, saying, “It was amazing to hear people and see them as they walked by taking their kids to school, going to work, just walk by us and quietly say thank you, thank you for being here. And that means a world to those officers that are out there risking their lives to bring safety back.” Watch Noem here:
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It would appear that Noem was correct in her characterization of how average community members viewed ICE’s involvement. That impression came from Tyreek Goodman, a member of the Bronx County Conservative Party, who commented on how Tren de Aragua had sown the seeds of destruction in their community and so they were all on board with law enforcement.
He said, speaking to Fox News Digital, “You do have the feeling, the fear of what happens if they come here next. There’s been a lot of crimes on the MTA, based off people that weren’t supposed to be here. So we have to understand that in order to keep our people safe, this is a time for us to stand by law enforcement.”
Featured image credit: City of Aurora