Washington, Oct 15 (IANS) The White House on Thursday highlighted figures showing that US federal authorities arrested 1,296 alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua between January 20, 2025, and October 8, 2026, as US President Donald Trump’s administration stepped up its campaign against transnational organised crime.
The figures, cited in a White House statement drawing on a Washington Examiner report, also showed that nearly 350 alleged gang members and associates had been charged with federal offences during the period.
The administration presented the arrests as evidence of progress in a nationwide crackdown on criminal organisations operating across international borders.
The White House said the campaign involved the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and other federal law enforcement agencies working through Homeland Security Task Forces established in 2025.
The task forces were created to identify, investigate and dismantle criminal networks operating in American communities, with particular attention to Tren de Aragua.
The administration described the initiative as its largest federal campaign against transnational crime, although the statement did not provide comparative historical data to substantiate that characterisation.
The figures cover approximately 21 months of enforcement activity rather than arrests conducted in a single operation.
The White House also linked the campaign to a broader decline in violent crime across the United States. However, the statement did not provide evidence establishing how much of that decline could be attributed specifically to the task forces.
The enforcement campaign has also become a central element of the administration’s immigration policy, which combines border security measures with efforts to prosecute foreign criminal organisations.
The White House has repeatedly accused the previous administration of allowing members of foreign gangs to enter the country through the US-Mexico border. Those assertions are part of the administration’s political case for tougher immigration restrictions and expanded enforcement powers.
The latest figures were first reported by the Washington Examiner on Thursday, citing task force data released to the newspaper.
–IANS
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