FBI’s new taskforce arrests 214 criminals, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangbangers, in two weeks
WASHINGTON — The FBI’s newly launched interagency task force in Virginia made 214 arrests in a two-week blitz since its inception, The Post has learned, rounding up members of violent gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.
The interagency task force — the first of its kind — syncs the work of law enforcement agencies across the state to lock up criminals and illegal migrants.
The coordinated effort led to four arrests of those affiliated with Tren de Aragua, 18 MS-13 members and 16 involved in other gangs or transnational organized crime.
Although the effort so far has been carried out in just Virginia, FBI Director Kash Patel said he hopes the bureau can expand it to every single state.
“This is the first-in-the-nation, FBI-led interagency task force established to strike at the violent criminals and illegals harming our citizenry and our way of life,” Patel told The Post.
“It’s a simple formula that has led to hundreds of arrests in less than two weeks — and we will work day and night to expand this effort to every state in the country. America: More help is on the way.”
The law enforcement agencies involved included different FBI field offices, the Border Patrol, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Corrections, the Drug Enforcement Administration and more.
Patel has vowed to prioritize the FBI’s efforts on taking down violent criminals and those involved in narco-trafficking, which he said in his confirmation hearing is the “underbelly” of other crimes like human trafficking and terrorism.
Tren de Aragua was already flagged by the Department of Homeland Security as a growing gang in Virginia and the surrounding metro DC area in November, and has spread to 16 states across the US.
The violent gang members are specifically targeting DC and northern Virginia due to its proximity to suburban, high-end shopping areas, a memo previously obtained by The Post showed.
Members of the gruesome gang MS-13 were also previously known to have a foothold in Virginia. One gang member faced trial in October for a half-dozen murders over the past five years, including shooting a waitress so many times that she became unrecognizable.
The caught criminals also included members of the Sinaloa Cartel, Washington Field Office Acting Assistant Director in Charge Roman Rozhavsky added.
“Last week, the FBI and our federal, state, and local partners launched the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force — the first of many task forces that will focus on coordinating ongoing immigration enforcement efforts and combating transnational organized crime,” Rozhavsky said, noting that the task force is “achieving remarkable progress toward our goal of eradicating [transnational criminal organizations] in Virginia and across the US.”
Retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent Brian Townsend recently warned that the Sinaloa Cartel was spreading throughout smaller communities in the US and was one of the gangs “at the heart” of the smuggling of fentanyl across the border.
All three gangs were designated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations, making it illegal to support the groups in the US.
The coalition of law enforcement agencies rooting out crime is a part of President Trump’s larger goal of deporting migrants involved in illicit drug trafficking and violent crime.
The FBI is directing resources to specifically crack down on those affiliated with the Venezuelan regime of President Nicolas Maduro, The Post reported, targeting those who are involved in “dirty business” with the repressive regime.
