Chief of police in Willow Springs and Former Chicago police chief Garry McCarthy highlights the escalating challenges posed by a Venezuelan gang’s expansion into Chicago.
NOTE: Read the original reporting from Telemundo Chicago here.
Authorities have confirmed the presence of members of the dangerous Venezuelan gang the Tren de Aragua in the Chicago area.
This transnational criminal organization, which has managed to spread its terror very quickly throughout South America, is in the United States, according to intelligence reports from local agencies.
Since at least October 2023, intelligence divisions of the Cook County Sheriff's Office confirmed through internal emails obtained by Telemundo Chicago that members of the Aragua Train are in Chicago.
Garry McCarthy, police chief for suburban Willow Spring and former police superintendent for Chicago, calls the Aragua Train a criminal enterprise and confirms that it is operating in Chicago.
Through emails reported by Telemundo Chicago, officers alerted their internal units that “the gang has strong human trafficking operations in Latin America and that multiple agencies have confirmed its presence within the United States.”
“Whether it's drug trafficking, smuggling, human trafficking, for sexual exploitation, extortion, all those things that this gang is doing in South America,” McCarthy said.
Local
The United States Border Patrol confirmed to Telemundo Chicago Investiga that 38 members of the Aragua Train were arrested in six different sectors of the United States border in fiscal year 2023. Although they did not detail exactly which sectors, they did explain that arrests at the border often use biometric checks and background investigations.
But in the case of the Aragua Train, according to a researcher and author of a book surrounding the Aragua Train, this could be difficult.
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The Border Patrol confirmed that at least two of the 38 individuals were arrested in El Paso trying to enter the country illegally through the Mexican border. One of them had tried to enter a second time.
Art Del Cueto, vice president of the Border Patrol union, spoke with Telemundo Chicago Investiga from Arizona about the difficulties in detecting potential members of the Aragua Train.
“There are individuals who are part of this criminal group, but simply because they do not have a criminal record or anything that can distinguish that they are part of that group, they have also been released within the United States,” Del Cueto said.
Another challenge for detecting members of this group is the lack of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States, which were canceled by former president Donald Trump.
“We do not have data on them because I am sure that if it is Venezuela, it does not share it with the United States. So you can’t connect dots when we don’t have points,” McCarthy said.
At least one member of the Tren de Aragua gang has been arrested in the Chicago area.
Edwin Camejo, 27, was arrested on Dec. 11, 2023, in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood after an operation in which more than a dozen police officers participated.
Camejo was arrested for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover officer three times.
McCarthy explained that an operation like this requires an individual to sell drugs in a certain amount to create a serious crime.
Camejo's report says he has no arrest warrants and is not on parole, but he is a member of the Tren de Aragua.
The Border Patrol confirmed to Telemundo Chicago that of the 38 arrests recorded so far, at least one of them was referred to the El Paso Intelligence Unit due to possible gang-related tattoos.
McCarthy added that the threat from this criminal group “is as big as they want because it is as if the world is at their disposal.”
Telemundo Chicago requested interviews with the Chicago police superintendent, but did not receive a response.
