A top law enforcement official is sounding the alarm about bloodthirsty Venezuelan criminals operating under the red flag

FIRST ON FOX: Tennessee’s top law enforcement official is warning that the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang is operating in the state and conducting human trafficking — the latest sign of a growing crackdown on the bloodthirsty gang.

“We’ve seen, in the last few months, a resurgence of intelligence that tells us they’re operating in our county. They’re operating in a human trafficking ring,” said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch.

Rausch made the comments on the “Unmuted with Marsha” podcast with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., whose video was shared with Fox News Digital. Blackburn noted the recent arrest of a Tren de Aragua fugitive from Venezuela with a history of violent crimes in Tennessee.

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The Tren de Aragua is believed to have started in the Tocoron prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua and traveled to Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the US.

They are believed to have increased due to the increase in Venezuelan immigrants entering the US. Most crimes in the past year have been linked to TdA, in states including Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Colorado and New York.

Rausch said that in 2022, his agents first encountered the gang in Tennessee and made arrests in 2023, and later met with victims who provided more intelligence about the gang’s operations in Tennessee and elsewhere across the US. leave the country, but they have returned.

“What they are doing is bringing these Venezuelan ladies, bringing them into the country, smuggling them, bringing them into the country, others are bringing them in, exploiting our system, where they will enter saying they are fleeing the dictatorship and the challenges that exist in Venezuela,” he said.

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Rausch said his agency has done two major operations to recruit TdA members to the Nashville area. However, he warned about the level of their presence and said it was not as intense as in other states such as Colorado.

“Recently, when we expressed that we know they’re in Tennessee, and they’re working in our big cities, which has caused a big challenge, a lot of people got upset about that. They immediately started thinking, ‘This is TDA taking apartments, like we’ve seen in other cities.’ We haven’t arrived yet, but we don’t want to get there,” he said.

These images from a CBP intelligence report show Tren De Aragua’s tattoos and identification. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of known or suspected TdA members. (ICE)

Rausch warned that this gang often starts with human trafficking and then moves on to other organized crimes such as organized retail crime and theft, before moving into drug trafficking and gang violence.

“Of course we don’t want to see it anywhere in the country, but my responsibility is primarily here in Tennessee, so we don’t want that to happen. So I raised the alarm that we know they are here doing human trafficking. We want to stop them right now, where we can right now,” he said.

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Blackburn asked about solutions to the problem, and proposed his own legislation that would encourage local law enforcement to cooperate with the federal government when dealing with an illegal immigrant.

“If someone is committing a crime in your country, and they’re in the country illegally, of course, you need to deport them,” Blackburn said.

Rausch also noted that returning migrants to their countries of origin would be difficult if they did not accept them.

“What do we do with these people? Do we hold them here in a US prison until that situation in whatever country they came from that we can’t bring them back to, to get that? What’s the answer to that?” he asked.

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The discussion comes ahead of what is expected to be a landmark deportation exercise by the Trump administration. Trump this week announced other options for his border security team, including former Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott as his choice to lead Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

During the presidential campaign, Trump said he intended to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle “every illegal immigrant a criminal network operating on American soil.”