The Gang’s All Here—Thanks to Open Border

Gang inmates in a prison cell in San Vicente, El Salvador, on Feb. 6. In February 2023, El Salvador opened Latin America's largest prison as part of a plan to fight gangs. Alex Peña/Getty Images

Commentary

Have you heard of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal gang? Maybe not, but this is “the little engine that could,” that may bring your quiet American neighborhood some dangerous young men with little to contribute and even less to lose. Joseph Humire, an expert on Latin American security, calls the Tren “the fastest-growing transnational criminal organization in the world.”