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Tag: Venezuelan

Colorado authorities linked crime surge to Venezuelan migrants as early as 2023

FIRST ON FOX: Authorities in Aurora, Colorado, had traced a surge in Venezuelan-linked crime as early as the summer of 2023 in two apartment blocks, new emails show, nearly a year before the rise of Tren de Aragua (TdA) activity came to light.

Emails obtained by America First Legal and provided to Fox News Digital show communications between state and local officials about the threat posed by Venezuelan nationals, including those who may have ties to the bloodthirsty Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

A February email chain between state and local officials included comments from an Aurora Police Department (APD) official about “possible Venezuelan ties in Aurora.” The official mentions two apartment blocks.

TOM HOMAN BELIEVES ICE RAID LEAKS ARE ‘COMING FROM INSIDE’ AS AURORA LEAKER CLOSER TO BEING IDENTIFIED

ICE Denver arrest a suspected Venezuelan gang member in Aurora, Colo. (ICE Denver)

“Both of those addresses are currently having Venezuelan refugees placed there and we have had multiple violent cases involving those addresses with Venezuelan suspects since about June of 2023,” one email said.

The email chain, of which the subject was “Venezuelans stealing and selling stolen vehicles and using fake plates,” included the APD official saying that “it’s difficult to ID people who have no history in the U.S. yet.”

The APD would also say in January that a group called the Papagayo Foundation had been allowed “to place Venezuelan refugees in these properties, most likely leading to possible TdA members moving to Aurora according to HSI,” referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI).

At another apartment block, the Aurora police crime request said that there had been a “consistent increase” in calls for service from the police, “nearly doubling from 2022 to 2023 and on track to double again between 2023 and 2024.”

“APD investigated 41 crimes in 2022, 84 crimes in 2023, and 66 crimes in 2024 through July 31. The crimes included various motor vehicle crimes, robbery, drugs, trespass, sexual assault and aggravated assault,” it said, also disputing claims that Aurora police would not patrol the area or send officers to the complex.

FEDERAL COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN FROM SENDING DETAINED VENEZUELAN IMMIGRANTS TO GUANTÁNAMO BAY

“The city and the APD are also aware of concerns at the national level that members of a Venezuelan prison gang have arrived in the United States and established organized crime cells in cities throughout the country,” it said. “APD leadership shares in those concerns and is actively working with law enforcement agencies across the metro area to conclusively determine if indeed there is a connection between metro criminal activity and a specific group or organization.”

In a separate document tracking incidents through apartments owned by CBZ management, which owns 11 complexes in Colorado, alleged crimes included an assault on a property manager, the arrest of two men who were armed and allegedly on their way to kill a property manager, a stabbing, and multiple incidents involving armed men.

Police search for evidence at apartment buildings in Aurora, Colo., on Dec. 17, 2024. (Fox News Digital)

CBZ said last year that TdA members commandeered entire buildings in Aurora by threatening employees and trying to extort them for rent money. Local authorities have said those claims were exaggerated.

“Gangs have taken control of several of our properties in Aurora, Colorado,” the company wrote in a thread on X last year. “In an attempt to discredit this fact for political purposes and avoid governmental accountability, some have spread false information about our situation.”

Another email in February 2024 outlined how Aurora police contacted ICE HSI to identify suspects who might be in TdA or be Venezuelan, including wearing red No. 23 jerseys or having gang tattoos.

The revelations come after months of reports about a growing Venezuelan and TdA presence in Colorado and the violent consequences inflicted upon people living there.

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A viral video of alleged Venezuelan gang members carrying guns through an Aurora apartment complex last August put a spotlight on immigration in the Denver area. Now-President Donald Trump visited the city during his re-election campaign last fall, detailing his “Operation Aurora” to expedite the removal of “savage gangs.”

Now-Vice President J.D. Vance also addressed the issue last year and had a viral clash with with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, who attempted to downplay the crime Venezuelan crime by saying they were “limited to a handful of apartment complexes.”

“Martha, do you hear yourself?” Vance fired back. “Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris’ open border? Americans are so fed up with what’s going on.”

At the height of the controversy last August, then-interim Aurora Police Chief Heather Morris attempted to downplay the issue, arguing that “gang members” had not “taken over” the apartment complex.

“I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that don’t live in this community,” she said. “But what we’re learning out here is that gang members have not taken over this complex.”

AURORA POLICE REACT TO ALLEGED VENEZUELAN GANG PRESENCE AT APARTMENTS: ‘HAVE NOT TAKEN OVER’

But a former resident of the complex, Cindy Romero, disputed that characterization during an appearance on Fox News last year, arguing that the viral incident was in no way an “isolated” one.

“It is not by any means an isolated occurrence, unfortunately. I have months, almost a year and a half worth of footage from six separate cameras,” the former resident said, adding that some attempts to call police before suspected gang activity broke out were met with little response “unless something happened.”

Alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang took over an apartment building in Aurora, Colo., charging rent in exchange for “protection.” (Edward Romero | Aurora Police Department)

Recently, the Trump administration launched an ICE raid in and around Aurora, but leaking of details of the raid is believed to have sent gang members into hiding. Administration officials say the leak is being investigated.

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“Progressive politicians have been gaslighting the American people for the last four years regarding the presence of illegal migrant criminal gangs,” Michael Ding, America First Legal counsel, said in a statement.

“While the Trump Administration has immediately gotten to work to clean up our communities, America First Legal will continue to investigate why state and local sanctuaries have not done more to help deport these dangerous individuals,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Aurora police and the Papagayo Foundation.

Fox News’ Christina Coulter contributed to this report.

Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News, Michael worked for the Washington Examiner, Bongino.com, and Unbiased America. He has covered politics for more than eight years.

February 13, 2025
Venezuelan planes return to Latin American country with citizens deported from US

Two planes sent by Venezuela returned home Monday with nearly 200 Venezuelans who were in the U.S. illegally as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan.

The 190 migrants returned to Venezuela signals a possible ease in tensions between the two longtime adversaries and a win for the Trump administration as it seeks to have countries take back their citizens found in the U.S. without authorization.

The Conviasa airline flights arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas from Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas.

“Two planes of illegal immigrants left El Paso today headed to Venezuela – paid for by the Venezuelans,” Trump envoy Richard Grennell, who oversaw the deportations, wrote on X.

FEDERAL COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN FROM SENDING DETAINED VENEZUELAN IMMIGRANTS TO GUANTÁNAMO BAY

Two planes sent by Venezuela returned to the country from El Paso, Texas, on Monday with nearly 200 Venezuelans who were in the U.S. illegally. (AP)

Deportation flights from the U.S. to Venezuela had been stopped for years, except for a brief period in October 2023 under the Biden administration.

Large numbers of Venezuelans began arriving at the southern border in 2021 and are still among the nationalities with the most people entering the U.S. illegally, which has made Venezuela’s refusal to accept their return a major hurdle.

Venezuela’s newfound willingness to take back the migrants came after Grennell visited Caracas a few weeks ago.

“This is the world we want, a world of peace, understanding, dialogue and cooperation,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said.

TRUMP DEPORTING CRIMINAL ALIENS TO GUANTANAMO BAY: MEET THE HARDENED TERRORISTS THEY’LL JOIN

Venezuelans deported from the United States arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)

The Venezuelan government confirmed the flights earlier on Monday, criticizing in a statement the “ill-intentioned” and “false” narrative surrounding the presence of Tren de Aragua gang members in the U.S. The statement said most Venezuelan migrants are decent and hard-working people and that American officials are attempting to stigmatize the country.

The deportation flights on Monday came days after some illegal aliens were sent to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, where they are separated from 15 detainees who were already there, including planners in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

A federal judge in New Mexico temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan men to Guantánamo Bay on Sunday. Lawyers for the trio argued that their clients “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantánamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, front left, walks off a plane that transported deportees from the United States at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)

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The flights also came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala for those countries to accept their citizens and U.S. deportees of other nationalities.

Trump said after Grennell’s visit that the Venezuelan government had agreed to accept “all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” and pay for their flights home. Half a dozen Americans held in Venezuela were released at the time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

February 11, 2025
Federal court blocks Trump admin from sending detained Venezuelan immigrants to Guantánamo Bay

A federal court on Sunday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants held in New Mexico to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp as part of the president’s efforts to remove illegal immigrants from the U.S.

Lawyers for the trio said in a legal filing that the detainees “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantánamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.”

In the filing, the lawyers asked a U.S. District Court in New Mexico for a temporary restraining order to block the administration from flying them to the U.S. military base. The lawyers noted that “the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction.”

TRUMP DEPORTING CRIMINAL ALIENS TO GUANTANAMO BAY: MEET THE HARDENED TERRORISTS THEY’LL JOIN

The Trump administration has begun flying detained illegal immigrants from the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, left, DOD via AP, right.)

Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales granted the temporary restraining order, according to attorney Jessica Vosburgh, who represents the three men.

“It’s short term. This will get revisited and further fleshed out in the weeks to come,” Vosburgh told The Associated Press.

The filing came as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the three men filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center.

FIRST 10 ‘HIGH THREAT’ ILLEGALS ARRIVE TO GUANTÁNAMO BAY ARE ALL TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBERS

A migrant prepares to board a flight to Guantánamo Bay. (Department of Homeland Security)

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt separately said that flights carrying detained illegal immigrants had been sent to Guantánamo.

Immigrant rights groups sent a letter on Friday demanding access to people who are now being held at the U.S. naval station, arguing that the base should not be used as a “legal black hole.” Guantánamo has been criticized around the world for its inhumane abuse and torture of detainees, including interrogation tactics.

The immigrants are being held in the Guantánamo detention camp that was set up for detainees in the aftermath of 9/11. The immigrants are separated from the 15 detainees who were already there, including planners in the 2001 terrorist attack.

In this April 17, 2019, photo, reviewed by U.S. military officials, the control tower is seen through the razor wire inside the Camp VI detention facility in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP)

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Trump has promised to expand the detention camp to hold up to 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens.”

Leavitt said Wednesday that more than 8,000 immigrants have been arrested since Jan. 20 as part of Trump’s plan to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, although hundreds of those arrested have since been released back into the U.S.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

February 10, 2025
US seizes Venezuelan plane used by Maduro regime

An aircraft used by a state-owned Venezuelan natural gas company to evade U.S. sanctions and export control laws for the benefit of the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was seized in the Dominican Republic Thursday, authorities said.

The seizure of the Dassault Falcon 2000EX aircraft used by Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural-gas company, came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Caribbean nation for talks with its president.

“The seizure of this Venezuelan aircraft, used for evading U.S. sanctions and money laundering, is a powerful example of our resolve to hold the illegitimate Maduro regime accountable for its illegal actions,” Rubio wrote on X.

“With the Dominican Republic and our regional partners, we will continue to counteract any scheme to evade U.S. sanctions.”

TRUMP OFFICIAL TRAVELS TO VENEZUELA IN PUSH FOR MADURO REGIME TO TAKE BACK TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBERS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, listens to Edwin F. Lopez, the attaché for DHS Homeland Security Investigations, center, next to the Venezuelan government airplane that Rubio announced was being seized by the U.S. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The seizure stemmed from a 2019 executive order during President Donald Trump’s first term in office in an effort to prohibit American citizens from engaging in transactions with anyone who worked for or on behalf of PdVSA. In January 2020, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified 15 aircraft that fell under the order.

PdVSA bought the plane from the U.S. in July 2017 and exported it to Venezuela, where it was registered under tail number YV-3360, the Justice Department said.

Despite sanctions being levied on PdVSA, the plane was still serviced and maintained on multiple occasions using parts from the U.S., authorities said. The service included a brake assembly, electronic flight displays and flight management computers, all in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions laws.

A “seized” sign is placed on a Venezuelan government airplane during a press conference where U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, announced its seizure at La Isabela International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“The use of American-made parts to service and maintain aircraft operated by sanctioned entities like PdVSA is intolerable,” said Devin DeBacker, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

“The Justice Department, along with its federal law enforcement partners, will continue to safeguard our national security by identifying, disrupting and dismantling schemes aimed at procuring American goods in violation of our sanctions and export control laws.”

DHS SEC. NOEM ANNOUNCES END TO TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS

This photo released by Venezuela’s presidential press office shows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, right, shaking hands with Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 31, 2025. (Venezuela’s presidential press office, via AP)

Among its uses, the plane was allegedly used to take Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez, who is also sanctioned, to an OPEC meeting in the United Arab Emirates and has been used to transport senior members of the Maduro regime.

The aircraft was used in a continuation of the regime’s misappropriation of PdVSA assets, the DOJ said.

In September, a plane owned by Maduro was also seized in the Dominican Republic. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) flew the Dassault Falcon 900EX back to the United States soon after.

“Asset forfeiture is a powerful law enforcement tool, which we will continue to use aggressively to deter, disrupt and otherwise combat criminal activity,” said U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne.

Maduro’s plane on a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., tarmac, after U.S. authorities seized the aircraft and flew it from the Dominican Republic. That plane was seized in September 2024. (WFOR)

Maduro began his third six-year term as president last month despite widespread skepticism over the legitimacy of his election victory.

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International and domestic critics question the fairness of the electoral process. Maduro claimed victory by more than 1 million votes. However, opposition candidate Edmundo González is widely believed to have won by a landslide.

February 7, 2025
Over a dozen Venezuelan criminal illegal migrants sent to Guantánamo Bay

More than a dozen Venezuelan criminal illegal migrants are on their way to the U.S.’ most secure prison — the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp (GITMO) in Cuba — some of whom are members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources.

TdA is an international criminal group that has been terrorizing U.S. communities from New York to Colorado. As one of his first actions, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 instructing the State Department and other government agencies to move to designate TdA as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Fox News learned that along with TdA gang members, the 13 Venezuelans being flown to GITMO include a murder suspect and a man who claims to have escaped from a Venezuelan prison.

The men are expected to be held at the detention center that is being expanded to house tens of thousands of criminal immigrants.

FIRST 10 ‘HIGH THREAT’ ILLEGALS TO ARRIVE TO GUANTANAMO BAY AREA ALL TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBERS

A control tower is seen through the razor wire inside a detention facility at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The DHS said the immigrants on the plane on Thursday are “highly dangerous” people who were in the U.S. illegally.

Along with a murder suspect and a prison escapee, the others in the group being taken to GITMO include those accused of robbery, intent to commit homicide, weapons trafficking, robbery and assault.

MEXICAN TROOPS BEGIN ARRIVING AT US-MEXICO BORDER FOLLOWING DEAL MADE TO PAUSE TRUMP-APPROVED TARIFFS

Criminal migrants board a military flight to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. (Department of Homeland Security)

Earlier on Thursday, 10 high-threat migrants arrived at Guantánamo Bay, the Department of Defense (DOD) confirmed.

The DOD said migrant criminals are being housed in vacant detention facilities. The DOD said that is only a temporary arrangement being made to “ensure the safe and secure detention of these individuals until they can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.”

TRUMP HAS BECOME ‘GAME-CHANGER’ IN CONFRONTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRISIS: TOM HOMAN

A migrant prepares to board a flight to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Department of Homeland Security)

The DHS has clarified that the Guantánamo Bay prison will only be used to house “the worst of the worst” criminals.”

Late last month, Trump announced that he instructed the DOD to prepare Guantánamo Bay to house 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens.”

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He said there are 30,000 beds at Guantánamo Bay to house the detainees who pose a threat to the American public, adding that putting them there will ensure they do not come back to the U.S.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.

February 6, 2025
‘We stopped that’: Noem cancels Biden admin’s 11th hour deportation shield for Venezuelan migrants

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday announced that her agency had canceled a Biden-era extension of deportation protections for Venezuelan migrants — accusing her predecessor of tying the hands of the Trump administration.

In a notice, DHS announced that it has vacated a Jan. 10 decision by then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to extend a Temporary Protected Status designation to Venezuelan nationals by 18 months.

“Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are in Temporary Protected Status, which meant they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months,” Noem said, announcing the move on “Fox and Friends.” “And we stopped that today.”

MAYORKAS EXTENDS DEPORTATION SHIELD FOR EYE-POPPING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS AHEAD OF TRUMP ADMIN

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination to be Secretary of Homeland Security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 17, 2025. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

TPS grants protection from deportation and allows work permits for nationals living in the U.S. from countries deemed unsafe for them to be returned. Mayorkas announced extensions for TPS for Venezuela, as well as El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine for an additional 18 months.

Venezuela’s extension applied to approximately 600,000 nationals already covered by TPS, but would not allow new applications. The extension would have further complicated the Trump administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants from Venezuela, which has been a focus given the rise of Tren de Aragua — a bloodthirsty street gang from Venezuela.

TRUMP-ERA SOUTHERN BORDER SEES MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS PLUMMET BY OVER 60% AS NEW POLICIES KICK IN

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks to Senior Writer at Politico Magazine Ankush Khardori during Politico’s annual AI and Tech Summit on Sept. 17, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“We signed an executive order within the Department of Homeland Security in a direction that we were not going to follow through on what [Mayorkas] did to tie our hands, that we are going to follow the process, evaluate all of these individuals that are in our country, including the Venezuelans that are here and members of TDA,” she said.

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The announcement came a day after Noem oversaw an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in New York City, where officers have been targeting criminal illegal immigrants. That operation is part of a broader nationwide effort to deport illegal immigrants throughout the U.S. DHS has made a flurry of moves to empower ICE officers, including taking Biden-era limits off expedited removal powers and canceling the use of parole. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, signed a slew of executive orders concerning border security and illegal immigration.

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“Listen, I was in New York City yesterday, and the people of this country want these dirtbags out. They want their communities to be safe. It was so amazing to me to see people walk by us on the street early in the morning and just say, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being here,’” Noem said. “So this is part of our plan to make sure that we’re protecting America, keeping it safe again just like President Trump promised.”

Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.

He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.

January 29, 2025