The emergence of a violent South American gang in the United States continues to pose challenges for border officials, who are vigilant for identifying tattoos and other indicators as the number of “gotaway” cases increases.
Incidents such as a mob assaulting New York’s law enforcement in Times Square and the tragic killing of a Georgia nursing student while jogging underscore concerns about Biden’s policies regarding illegal aliens, which have endangered American citizens. Alongside the alleged involvement of foreign nationals, a source from U.S. Customs and Border Protection highlighted the growing presence of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).
Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin shared images from an internal CBP intelligence bulletin on X, revealing numerous tattoos believed to be gang identifiers of TdA. Melugin quoted both CBP and ICE sources expressing frustration over the difficulty of deporting Venezuelan gang members due to Venezuela’s refusal to accept them. Melugin emphasized the challenge, noting that deported individuals often re-enter the U.S. illegally as “gotaways.”
Quoting an ICE source who stated, “We have a ton of Venezuelans that we can’t get rid of,” Melugin reiterated concerns about deportation challenges. He cited ICE and CBP data showing that out of 335,000 encounters with Venezuelans at the border in fiscal year 2023, only 834 were deported due to Venezuela’s refusal to accept removal flights from the U.S.
Tattoo examples included symbols like a train, a grenade, a rifle, and a character with a backward ball cap and gas mask captioned “REALG4LIFE.”
As previously reported, Venezuelan national Jose Ibarra, accused of killing 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, was linked to TdA, which has been increasingly active in the United States.
