Nearly 80 alleged criminals, several of whom are suspected members of the criminal gang Tren de Aragua, are now off the streets following a two-month undercover investigation dubbed “Operation Showdown.”
At a press conference last Wednesday, Nancy Larson, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said the operation resulted in the arrest of 76 individuals. Larson added that 56 have been charged with federal drug and gun crimes, and 20 face charges at the state level.
The operation ran from early April through the end of May. In addition to the arrests, “Operation Showdown” led to the recovery of over 280 firearms, including 147 illegal machine gun conversion devices and 22 kilograms of narcotics.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
“The removal of 76 gun and drug traffickers from the streets will have a lasting impact on this city,” Larson said. “They are no longer out there peddling their guns and their drugs, which would have led to more and more crime.”
The collaborative effort, which included local, state and federal agencies, also led to the apprehension of eight Venezuelan nationals, three of whom are suspected Tren de Aragua gang members. President Donald Trump’s administration has designated the transnational criminal gang as a terrorist organization.
Members of Tren de Aragua have been linked to various illegal activities, such as human trafficking, kidnapping, drug trafficking and other crimes.
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said that the purpose of “Operation Showdown was to “send a message to our citizens that we’re going after the bad guys, and we’re getting them.”
The recent apprehension of Tren de Aragua gang members is not the first report within recent months of law enforcement arresting suspected Venezuelan gang members.
As WABC reported in April, dozens of members of a Venezuelan gang in New York City were indicted on multiple federal charges, which included murder and sex trafficking. Authorities said that the gang members assaulted and robbed New Yorkers and tourists in a wave of street crimes last year.
“A widespread, violent network responsible for multiple shootings, home invasions, carjackings and sex trafficking,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement at the time. “They targeted vulnerable women from Venezuela, forcing them into sex work and threatening to kill their families if they didn’t comply.”
In March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security announced the arrest of 68 members of Tren de Aragua. According to a statement released by the DHS at the time, authorities arrested dozens of the Venezuelan street gang members in less than one week.
The Trump Administration and the Department of Homeland Security are committed to arresting and removing criminals from our communities,” a DHS spokesperson said.
In less than 100 days, the Trump administration arrested 394 members of Tren de Aragua, according to the release.
“Tren De Aragua is a terrorist organization whose members are rapists, drug traffickers, and murderers,” the spokesperson continued. “We will continue to make sure these dirtbags are removed from America’s streets and face justice.”
In May, ICE also announced the arrests of multiple suspects who were allegedly involved in a December 2024 mass shooting at a house party in Chicago attended by mostly Venezuelan nationals. Authorities believe that members of the Tren de Aragua gang were behind the incident, which led to a number of injuries and deaths.
ICE Homeland Security Investigations Chicago worked with multiple agencies to apprehend one of the suspected shooters, Ricardo Granadillo Padilla, on Feb. 8 in Raleigh, North Carolina. At the time of his arrest, Padilla had on him a pistol, ammunition, and other evidentiary items, which authorities seized.
Padilla is in federal custody, according to ICE’s May press release. The shooting suspect entered the United States illegally through El Paso, Texas, in 2022. Earlier this year, authorities seized multiple firearms, high-capacity magazines, narcotics and fraudulent documents from Padilla’s residence in Chicago.
The other suspected shooter, Venezuelan national Edward Martinez Cermeno, is in custody and faces federal charges for entering the United States illegally through El Paso, as ICE reported in its press release last month.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
