Famous for its aggressive image in the United States, the Tren de Aragua gang now has a strong opponent called Anti-Tren. This new entity runs the danger of aggravating national crime and instability.
Rising from Tren de Aragua, Anti-Tren has embraced similar illegal activities and lately found itself in a federal indictment. Federal authorities indicted 21 Anti-Tren associates linked to running drug trafficking and prostitution organisations in the New York City area in April.
Government records state that “Anti-Tren is a criminal organisation almost exclusively comprised of former members and associates of TdA.”
Like its predecessor, Anti-Tren originated in South America and boasts members who worked there for years before arriving in the United States during the Biden presidency. Speaking anonymously, a federal law enforcement official underlined, “You have to remember, this Anti-Tren movement is not initially from the United States this is a South American thing. It comes from nations including Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela.”
Seeking fresh funding sources and following the Venezuelan people escaping Nicolás Maduro, Tren de Aragua started in a Venezuelan prison and grew across South America. The growing prominence of these gangs raises serious questions for both law enforcement and the people about their effect on American communities.
Anti-Tren is a group of competing street gangs joined by their resistance to Tren de Aragua (TDA), not a single entity. “Anti-Tren acts like an umbrella for various gangs that all despise TdA,” a federal officer said.
With a strong presence in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and even some parts of Chile, one famous group under the Anti-Tren banner is “Los Orientals.” “They are rather large down there,” the officer said.
Anti-Tren took local criminals into their ranks when TDA grew into other lands, including Peru. When TDA entered the United States in 2022, this trend quickened and merged with the flood of Venezuelan asylum-seekers. More than a million Venezuelans have been granted sanctuary in the United States over the past four years, which has caused a border problem.
The first American publication to cover TDA’s arrival was the Daily Mail.com. Law enforcement thinks that Anti-Tren arrived in the United States at about the same time or earlier.
Like TDA, Anti-Tren aimed to take advantage of their fellow nationals in big cities as Denver, New York, and Dallas. TDAS seized apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado, demanding “rent” from underprivileged immigrants or turning to violence against non-paying renters.
As a basis for their activities, both groups used the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which had evolved from a once-prestigious enterprise into a migrant refuge. “Before TdA established its grip on the Roosevelt Hotel, there was already a strong Anti-Tren presence there because the Venezuelans had arrived first,” said a law enforcement source.
This complicated scenario draws attention to the continuous difficulties authorities face as they negotiate the junction of immigration in the United States and organised crime.
Targeting destitute women and young girls who are yearning to enter America but lack the means for safe passage, two criminal groups—Anti-Tren and Tren de Aragua (TDA)—have been engaged in smuggling vulnerable migrants into the United States. Anti-Tren pledged to let these women enter the nation in exchange for their bodies.
Federal authorities claim the women and girls were compelled into prostitution to pay off their obligations to the gangs once they arrived in the United States. Referred to as “multadas,” a Spanish term meaning “owning a fine,” these people are
Both gangs applied severe intimidation techniques to guarantee compliance. They physically attacked the multidas and their families, threatened to murder them, and hunted any who tried to flee. Mostly operating in the Bronx, Queens, and New Jersey, the gangs also traded “tusi,” or “pink cocaine,” a substance intimately linked with TDA.
As part of its attempts to establish control and exact revenge against competing groups like TDA, Anti-Tren is accused of involvement in killings, assaults, and armed robberies. Federal sources project 3,000 to 5,000 TDA members for the United States. Though Anti-Tren’s footprint is not as strong as TdA’s, it has been connected to major crimes in places where TdA conducts business.
For example, Anti-Tren later linked a home invasion in Dallas originally ascribed to TDA. Local accounts state that one of four Venezuelan men engaged in an attack on a woman in an affluent area identified his companions as Anti-Tren members.
Armed guys ambushed a victim in her garage from her house in an exclusive location on September 21. They pushed their way inside, following a gun-based physical attack on her. Once there, they tied her up and issued a terrifying ultimatum using the Google Translate app: turn over her possessions or risk mutilation. This episode draws attention to the mounting worries about human trafficking connected to these groups and gang activity.