U.S. Customs and Border Protection is circulating an internal CBP intelligence bulletin to agents that identifies common tattoos used by the dangerous Venezuelan prison gang that has penetrated the U.S. through the compromised southern border with Mexico, according to a report Friday by Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin.
“NEW: CBP source provided an internal CBP intelligence bulletin revealing tattoos/identifiers for Tren De Aragua, the Venezuelan prison gang that has been entering the U.S. illegally through the southern border,” Bill Melugin posted Friday afternoon to X, formerly Twitter.
NEW: CBP source provided an internal CBP intelligence bulletin revealing tattoos/identifiers for Tren De Aragua, the Venezuelan prison gang that has been entering the U.S. illegally through the southern border.
Both CBP source & an ICE source expressed frustration that these… pic.twitter.com/Vnd13Z4y2Q— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 7, 2024
According to officials, the U.S. is having a hard time deporting Venezuelan gang members because Venezuela does not want to take them back. So the government settles for moving them to Mexico. But it is all-too-easy now for them to re-enter the country over President Joe Biden’s porous border and the lure of his promises of amnesty and government services.
“Both CBP source & an ICE source expressed frustration that these Venezuelan gang members are extremely difficult to deport because Venezuela won’t take their citizens back right now,” Melugin posted. “They can be removed to Mexico, but I’m told they typically then re-enter the U.S. illegally as a ‘gotaway.’”
“We have a ton of Venezuelans that we can’t get rid of,” the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) source told Melugin.
There could be over 300,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. illegally at the moment. The Fox News correspondent wrote, “Reminder: According to ICE & CBP data, in fiscal year 2023, there were 335,000 encounters with Venezuelans at the border, but only 834 Venezuelans were deported. Venezuela is currently not taking any removal flights from the U.S.”
If we only had some leverage over Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/QEahKC4RKa
— Sandy 〽️ (@RightGlockMom) March 7, 2024
“If we only had some leverage over Venezuela,” an X user replied sarcastically to Melugin’s report, with a screenshot of a Washington Post report from Oct. 2023 about Biden easing oil sanctions on Venezuela. In Oct., Biden rolled back most of the Trump-era oil sanctions on the virulently anti-American, communist South American country.