The Trump administration recently announced that it is achieving massive success in its law enforcement operations to cut down on violent gangs across the United States, taking a huge number of members from the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA). Both acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel revealed during a press conference that over 29,000 gangsters have been pulled off the streets.
“We’ve arrested 29,000 violent gang members since President Trump was sworn in. We’ve disrupted and dismantle 2,700 gangs around the country. That is a 365% increase from the same time period in the last prior administration. We have seen specifically as it relates to Tren de Aragua, 519% increase in arrests as the attorney general laid out,” Patel told members of the press on July 1, 2026.
“You’ve seen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Tren de Aragua violent gangsters and thugs picked up and arrested and taken off our streets permanently for crimes ranging from kidnapping to murder, to drug trafficking to firearms violence and more,” he continued. “We are safeguarding American citizens and American communities because President Trump decided to put law enforcement first.”
According to a report from ABC News 4, Patel also discussed the crackdown on gang members in a post published on social media platform X. “Today, thanks to tremendous work from FBI Chicago, FBI Dallas, and our partners as part of the FBI’s nationwide violent crime initiative Summer Heat 2.0, 8 more alleged TdA members who entered the U.S. under the previous administration have been indicted or arrested and will face justice for their crimes.”
During the same press conference, Blanche also announced that charges have now been filed against eight TdA members who entered the country illegally while former President Joe Biden was in office. “These violent crimes and murders happened because, under the Biden administration, open-border policies left our borders wide open, and hundreds of suspected (and now convicted) TdA terrorists poured through those borders into our country.”
He then stated that President Trump’s actions have helped bring an end to the “madness” when he designated TdA as a Foreign Terrorist Organization during his first month in office. “In the 18 months since January 20, nearly 350 members and associates of TdA have been charged and/or convicted of horrific violent crimes,” Blanche stated.
Patel and Blanche were joined by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros, who also shared details about the administration’s effort to stop these violent gangs. TdA was officially designated as a terrorist group by the administration and has been a top priority in the effort to reduce both crime and illegal immigration.
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On May 15, 2026, an alleged high-ranking member of TdA was extradited from Columbia to the U.S. where he is now facing terrorism-related charges in what federal authorities are calling a first-of-its-kind prosecution targeting the transnational criminal organization. The State Department has also offered a reward of up to $4 million for any information related to Mosquera Serrano, a TdA member on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video