Los Diablos de la 42 subset Tren de Aragua have reportedly dedicated crimes in Occasions Sq. and at the moment are reportedly alongside Roosevelt Avenue.
obtained by New York News Metro
Tren de Aragua (TDA), the notorious avenue gang based in Venezuela whom President Donald Trump invoked when he introduced his utilization of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected members, has made harmful inroads in New York Metropolis.
President Trump squarely pointed to TDA as certainly one of his chief causes for exercising the greater than 225-year-old legislation to increase government deportation authority. The White Home stated Sunday greater than 300 TDA members had been rounded up and shipped out to El Salvador.
Signed into legislation by President John Adams, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 permits the president to expel from the U.S. any particular person related to an enemy energy throughout a time of struggle. Regardless of a federal decide briefly blocking Trump’s order, noting that the U.S. is just not presently at struggle with Venezuela, the deportation went ahead nonetheless.
“TDA is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet Earth. They rape, maim and murder for sport,” a part of a press release issued by the White Home on Sunday morning learn. “This weekend, at the President’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security successfully arrested nearly 300 Tren De Aragua terrorists, saving countless American lives. Thanks to the great work of the Department of State, these heinous monsters were extracted and removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American People.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that america flew out some 250 members whom El Salvador will reportedly be paid to carry. It’s unclear, nevertheless, if these deportations passed off earlier than or after the decide blocked the order.
TDA’s crimes in New York
Although some have criticized the Trump administration as utilizing TDA as a bogeyman to justify mass deportation, the information are, nevertheless, that TDA has been accountable for its share of violent crime within the Massive Apple.
TDA members has reportedly settled in NYC during the last a number of years, working amok and committing a slew of crimes. Final October, police officers advised New York News Metro that TDA expanded with a number of subsets, akin to “Los Diablos de la 42,” a gaggle of juveniles who terrorized Occasions Sq. in a string of robberies.
Stefano Pachon, an alleged high-ranking member of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang slumps as he waits to be indicted.Photograph by Dean Moses
Detectives on the time acknowledged that this group operated out of metropolis shelters and preyed on kids in them by recruiting them to their malicious trigger, which they used to remain out of custody.
The total extent of TDA grew to become extra obvious in January of 2025 when an alleged high-ranking member of the gang, Stefano Pachon, was charged in a 31-count gun trafficking indictment by Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg for the prison scheme after solely being within the nation since 2023.
Later that month, extra arrests had been made — this time with Queens District Lawyer Melinda Katz and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch saying the indictment of 10 alleged gun runners and TDA members. Whereas making one of many arrests, prosecutors stated, an NYPD officer’s arm was fractured after it grew to become wedged in a door.
Wrallan Meza, alleged Tren de Aragua gang member, arrested in Queens takedown.Photograph by Dean Moses
Present standing of TDA in NYC
Regardless of the crackdowns and deportation order, police sources say TDA continues to be a persistent concern within the metropolis. Nonetheless, native legislation enforcement say they’re dedicated to combating again.
Cops say that since November, greater than 80 weapons have been confiscated from TDA members. Police say they’ve additionally been laborious at work trying to drive scooter/moped crime; the gadgets are sometimes a automobile of selection for TDA members.
The NYPD revealed to New York News Metro that yr up to now, scooter crime is down 79%.
“While not all of these crimes were committed by TDA members, we know they were involved in and responsible for these types of crimes in the past that drove the previous uptick,” a police supply stated.
Cops additionally stated that retail thrift is down 9% yr up to now, a pattern related to the TDA.
Nonetheless, this has not curbed the obvious fear-mongering of the gang issued by the Trump administration.
Response to Alien Enemies Act
World Battle II was the final time the Alien Enemies Act was known as upon, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked its authority. But it surely resulted in Japanese Individuals being positioned in internment camps — an motion that’s regarded upon as a darkish time in U.S. historical past, for which President Ronald Reagan apologized 4 many years later.
Criticisms of Trump’s wartime enactment got here quick and thick Sunday, with some calling it not an assault on criminals however as a substitute an assault on due technique of legislation.
“With this executive order, the Trump administration is using fear and division to escalate its attacks on due process, which is a fundamental part of the U.S. Constitution and a foundational value in this country. The shocking invocation of an archaic wartime law will make communities less safe. It threatens families by fast-tracking deportations for Venezuelan immigrants, including children as young as 14, many of whom have the right to be in the U.S,” stated Shatna Kessler on the Vera Institute of Justice. “Today’s actions would strip away their constitutional right to defend themselves in court, advance this administration’s agenda of mass detention and family separation, devastate local communities and their economies, and perpetuate a dangerous and false narrative that immigrants are enemies.”
Others say that is merely an excuse for Trump to proceed a plan for mass deportations that may unjustly cut up up households or go away these detained with an incapacity to defend themselves in courtroom.
“This extremely dangerous law declares war on children, parents, and workers just trying to support their communities and their families. It is an assault on due process, denying people any opportunity to defend themselves in court,” stated Nicole Melaku, government director at Nationwide Partnership for New Individuals stated. “Just as the Alien Enemies Act was weaponized to incarcerate and separate Japanese American families during World War II, the Trump administration is abusing this dangerous executive power to make more people deportable and justify his destructive and racist mass deportation agenda. The enemy is not our immigrant neighbors—it’s those willing to enact hate-fueled policies to justify tearing families apart.”
