The Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI worked together to investigate a Venezuelan gang. They arrested more than 40 people and found drugs after searching an unknown Hays County home with a search warrant, the state agency and the FBI said Wednesday.
FBI agents “developed intelligence” earlier this week about a group of people connected to the criminal organisation Tren de Aragua, which began in Venezuelan prisons and is now being targeted by both state and federal authorities. This led to the execution of the warrant. DPS didn’t say more about how the dozens of people they have arrested may be connected to the gang.
As part of its plan to deport millions of immigrants, President Donald Trump’s government has gone after the criminal group. But family members of Venezuelans who have been arrested and sent to other parts of the country say they are not members of gangs.
Authorities took these people into arrest, but it wasn’t clear what crimes they might have committed. According to DPS and the FBI, state and federal prosecutors will look at the information gathered during the search warrant to decide if any criminal charges should be brought.
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office, DPS, the FBI, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement all took part in the operation but did not respond to calls for comment Wednesday right away.
At first, it wasn’t clear where the dozens of people who were arrested are being held.
A spokesperson for the San Antonio Police Department said that the department helped with an investigation that led up to the operation, but not with carrying out the search warrant. The spokesperson would not say more because the matter is “part of a larger ongoing case.” Law enforcement organisations from across the country and in the DPS release said they have been looking into gang members and their friends and family for more than a year.
