In a recent news, we learned that the murderous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) is now in 16 states in the U.S., committing crimes openly and brazenly. These gang members’ many horrific acts include robbery and murder, gang rape, assaults, shakedowns, burying people alive, and even beheadings and public executions. They are reputed to be more violent than the notorious Salvadoran gang MS-13.
TdA first gained notoriety on August 18, when a video showed gang members wandering through an Aurora, Colorado apartment building, brandishing guns, knocking on doors, even breaking off locks and entering apartments unbidden. In this instance, it appears they were shaking down residents for their rent money with threats of violence and the lethal weapons to make good on them.
It turns out this apartment building in Aurora was one of three that TdA had taken over. While residents and people in neighboring communities voiced fear for their safety and the safety of their families, apologists pooh-poohed and minimized the incidents. Many in the mainstream media soft-pedaled the gang’s presence, claiming they’re not “terrorists” but just petty criminals. The mayor of Aurora and a City Council member downplayed the threat in their official newsletter. The position several in the left media took was that the furor over TdA was overblown. They weren’t taking over cities; they were just terrorizing them. So that made it all right.
I remember having a discussion on Facebook with a friend who had a similar rationalization: “It was just one apartment building. It wasn’t the whole town.” No big deal. This is a bright, conservative man. I was dumbfounded. I wanted to echo Chris Pratt in the movie Jurassic World, after Vincent D’Onofrio’s character goes on an insane rant: “Do you hear yourself when you talk?”
Shortly after the criminal exploits of Tren de Aragua came to light, it was learned that they were a more pervasive presence than originally known, and experts postulated that it would take ten years to root them out and fully remove them from the country. Now they’re in 16 states, most recently in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Wyoming, Montana, and in every major city in Tennessee. With this expansion, we can only imagine how much more difficult it will be now to rid our country of this human plague.
Hellbound and Down 