Authorities arrested two members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in Tennessee last week, when officials issued a warning about a resurgence of the gang in the state.
On Nov. 19, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officials arrested Luis Alejandro Ruiz-Godoy, who was wanted on outstanding warrants through INTERPOL, a spokesperson with the Memphis Police Department said.
ICE transported the suspect to Louisiana for deportation. Additional details about his arrest were not available.
On Monday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) officials announced the arrests of four individuals, including one Tren de Aragua member, during a sex trafficking sting last week.
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Tren de Aragua gang activity has been reported throughout Tennessee. (“Fox & Friends”)
Tennessee’s Human Trafficking Task Force obtained information that led them to a hotel in Hamilton County, where law enforcement encountered the four suspects and confirmed that they were part of a human sex trafficking operation.
Three female suspects – Wilimar Herrera Guedez, 29; Rebeca De Los Juarez Lucena, 26; and Yidalbris Marcano Salas, 29 – are charged with prostitution. Salas is also facing multiple counts of drug-related charges, as well as one count of unlawful weapons possession.
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The male suspect, Adelvis Rodriguez-Carmona, 30, is facing one count of patronizing prostitution, multiple counts of drug-related charges, and one count of unlawful weapons possession. TBI investigators determined that Rodriguez-Carmona is “a known member of Tren de Aragua (TDA) who is additionally suspected of committing violent crimes in Chicago and New York City.”
“This is part of an active and ongoing investigation and there is no information available at this time,” Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Nashville Public Affairs Officer Mike Meares said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Four suspects, including a Tren de Aragua member, have been arrested in Hamilton County, Tennessee, in a sex-trafficking sting. (Hamilton County/ Valerie Schremp Hahn/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Tribune News Service)
At the time of the release, he remained in the custody of the Hamilton County Jail on $125,000 bond.
The arrests came the same week TBI officials issued a warning about the growing number of TDA members in the state.
“This gang has exploited [the border],” TBI Director David Rausch on “Fox & Friends” on Nov. 22. “They go from human trafficking to organized retail crime theft, and then they move into the drug trade, taking on the cartels in very violent, bloody battles that they’ve had.”
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Rausch said the gang has been running human trafficking operations and expanding into other criminal activities in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga. Law enforcement is limited in their efforts to crack down on gang-related activity, especially if suspects do not have an immigration “detainer,” the TBI director added.
“If we come upon them and they have a detainer on them, then we can take them into custody. But other than that, then all we can do is monitor and assure that they aren’t violating the law. But that is a challenge,” said Rausch, calling it a game of “cat and mouse” that’s getting more dangerous.
Rausch warned Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee during a budget hearing about the resurgence of the gang in major Tennessee cities.
The Department of Homeland Security recommended last month that more than 100 migrants that it has identified as having possible ties to a bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang be put on an FBI watchlist, after the agency flagged more than 600 with possible ties overall.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/venezuelan-gang-members-arrested-southern-state-same-week-officials-warned-tren-de-aragua-resurgence
