Intelligence Report Finds Minimal Ties Between Maduro, Tren de Aragua

The ODNI report could have ramifications on the administration’s efforts to deport gang members using the Alien Enemies Act.

Peruvian police carry out the transfer of several members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization in Lima on Oct. 5, 2023. Cris Bouroncle/AFP via Getty Images

A National Intelligence Council report released to the public on May 6 seems to contradict President Donald Trump’s claims that the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) is coordinating with the Venezuelan socialist regime, a claim that has been key to Trump’s efforts to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against the group.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) report specifically found that, “While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States.”

Rather, the report said, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime “treats TDA as a threat.”

On March 17, Trump issued a proclamation declaring members of TdA, which is currently recognized by the United States government as a terrorist organization, as eligible for deportation under the Alien Enemies Act.

That legislation, part of the Alien and Sedition Acts enacted during the naval quasi-war between the United States and France, authorizes the president to “apprehend, restrain, secure and remove, as alien enemies” citizens of a hostile nation during declared wars or times of invasion.

Trump immediately faced legal challenges over the push, with critics questioning the extent of the ties between TdA and the Venezuelan regime.

In spite of its broad assessment that cooperation between the criminal gang and Maduro is minimal, the report found that there are sometimes “ad-hoc” examples of regime officials working with TdA for certain ends within the country.

“Maduro regime leadership probably sometimes tolerates TDA’s presence in Venezuela, and some government officials may cooperate with TDA for financial gain,” the report said.

The report said that these relationships “have been ad-hoc and reportedly driven by the regime’s desire for help controlling territory or deterring a perceived threat of invasion, or for individual financial gain.”

It added that the Maduro regime tends to allow criminal organizations to operate within Venezuela but “does combat and seek to contain them when it fears they could destabilize the regime or when corrupt deals sour.” In part, the report said, this is a result of Venezuela’s inability to control its entire territory.

“Some mid- to low-level Venezuelan officials probably profit from TDA’s illicit activities,” the report added. “For example, local military officials have alerted other armed and criminal groups conducting aerial drug shipments to Venezuelan Air Force patrols and might have alerted TDA leadership of a planned raid in 2023 against the prison that was its base of operations.”

Still, in the wake of the May 6 report, the White House maintains that ties exist between the two groups which justify implementing the Alien Enemies Act.

“The Office of the Director of National Intelligence fully supports the assessment that the foreign terrorist organization, Tren De Aragua, is acting with the support of the Maduro Regime, and thus subject to arrest, detention, and removal as alien enemies of the United States,” a White House spokesperson told The Epoch Times, with emphasis added.

In the proclamation, Trump said that TdA is perpetrating such an invasion “at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of [Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s] regime.”

A federal judge blocked implementation of the proclamation at about 7 p.m. EDT on March 15.