Venezuela’s ongoing political instability and diplomatic tensions with the United States have led the South American country to empty its prisons, potentially sending them to the border to make them problems for other countries.
According to the Daily Mail, Supreme Court of Justice Magistrate Edgar Gavidia said on Friday that 100 prisoners had already been turned loose in a second wave of releases.
Miami immigration attorney and anti-Maduro activist Rolando Vazquez warned, “They’re thugs. These are not the prisons where they house the political opposition.”
Americans warned to brace for SECOND wave of Venezuelan gangsters coming over the border https://t.co/Wj8PSscY66 pic.twitter.com/OUjThB4BKJ
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) March 13, 2024
The issue of Venezuelan criminals entering the United States recently made headlines because the alleged perpetrator for the murder of Georgia college student Laken Riley is believed to be a former member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). Jose Ibarra, 26, was listed as part of the TdA gang on internal Department of Homeland Security documents seen by The New York Post.
Ibarra was first detained for illegally crossing into the U.S. in September 2022 through El Paso, Texas. However, he was released on parole after less than 24 hours and allowed to stay in the country with no restrictions until a hearing scheduled for October 2024.
Riley’s murder has been seized upon by congressional Republicans and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump as a particularly horrific example of the ongoing problems caused by the Biden administration’s failures to control immigration along the border with Mexico.
Biden’s unscripted exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) regarding Riley’s death during the recent State of the Union Address dominated news coverage in the days after the speech.
According to Fox News, federal authorities have been warning that TdA is known for its violent turf wars as it expanded into other countries in South and Central America, and is trying to establish itself in the U.S.
The FBI has also warned that the gang could team up with the extremely violent Central American street gang MS-13.
Last month two suspects in the assault of two NYPD officers were revealed to be members of TdA.
The Daily Mail reported that Palm Beach County, Florida Sheriff Ric Bradshaw referenced the Venezuelan gangs while holding a press conference last week about three Guatemalan migrants who are accused of sexually assaulting a woman.
Bradshaw said, “Our intelligence section who works very closely with the FBI has also identified that the most dangerous gangs in the world are now in Miami from Venezuela. They make MS-13 look like school kids.”
