NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s senior border advisor joined forces with New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday to announce federal charges against 27 individuals alleged to be members or associates of the Tren de Aragua gang.
This joint announcement marks the continued partnership between Mayor Eric Adams and the Trump administration. The Trump administration recently dismissed federal corruption allegations against Adams, enabling the Democrat, who is running for reelection as an independent, to concentrate on supporting the Republican president’s immigration priorities.
In his nationwide immigration enforcement efforts, Trump has characterized the Tren de Aragua gang as an aggressive infiltrating entity, utilizing the Alien Enemies Act. This rarely-used law from 1798 empowers the president to deport noncitizens aged 14 and above from nations the U.S. considers hostile.
Thomas Homan, serving as Trump’s border czar, stated, “Every member of TDA should be on the run,” referencing the gang’s initials. This gang emerged in Venezuela over ten years ago and has been associated with kidnappings, extortion, and various crimes across the Western Hemisphere.
The city recently disclosed that it would cooperate with federal immigration authorities by enabling them to operate within Rikers Island jail, a policy that Homan defended in the face of a City Council lawsuit aimed at blocking it.
“This is what collaboration looks like,” he emphasized. “I never asked the city or the NYPD to act as immigration officers. I requested their cooperation on pressing public safety and national security concerns, and that’s our pledge.”
A New York court injunction issued on Monday temporarily suspended the plan, pending an April 25 hearing on the litigation.
Despite the lawsuit, Adams reiterated his stance on eliminating violent immigrant-related gang activity from city streets. “The question that we must answer: whose side are you on?” he challenged. “Are you with those wielding illegal firearms, causing destruction, trafficking humans, and victimizing innocents without regard for their documentation, or are you with diligent New Yorkers and Americans? My choice is clear.”
Prosecutors in Manhattan stated that this marks the inaugural federal racketeering case against the Venezuelan street gang, reminiscent of past Mafia prosecutions. In addition to racketeering, the defendants are facing charges including trafficking individuals for sexual exploitation, dealing narcotics, committing robbery, and illegal firearms possession.
According to prosecutors, those apprehended were involved in illegally moving young women from Venezuela to Peru and the U.S. The females, deemed “multadas,” were allegedly coerced into prostitution under threats, including bodily harm and death.
The indictment outlines other criminal activities, noting gang members’ involvement in armed robberies and the distribution of illegal substances like “tusi,” a drug containing ketamine.
Out of the 27 people indicted, 21 are currently in custody, including five arrested during coordinated operations in New York and other locations on Monday and Tuesday. Six suspects remain at large.
Prosecutors have divided the charges across two indictments—one aimed at six suspected Tren de Aragua members, and the other targeting 19 alleged associates of “Anti-Tren,” a splinter group formed by former members.
One notable name in Tuesday’s indictment is Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, previously apprehended in January in the Bronx during the Trump administration’s initial immigration enforcement actions in New York. Authorities contend that the 26-year-old was linked to a group of armed individuals who were filmed breaking into a Colorado apartment, sparking concerns about Tren de Aragua’s influence over the deteriorated complex.
Zambrano-Pacheco’s attorney declined to comment on the latest developments.
Rejecting the notion that many detainees are otherwise compliant with the law, Adams declared, “The American dream does not encompass conducting armed robberies, discharging firearms, nor assaulting police officers. It’s not about invading homeless shelters to exploit people into sex trafficking.”
He concluded firmly, “That’s not the American dream, and we refuse to be a refuge for criminals.”