Politics

Notorious Venezuelan Gang’s Alleged Leader Dragged To US In Historic First

Flickr/U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo by Kris Grogan

An alleged high-ranking member of a Venezuelan gang that surged in the U.S. under former President Joe Biden was extradited to Texas on Thursday, federal authorities announced.

Suspected Tren de Aragua gangbanger Jose Enrique Martinez Flores is scheduled for a Friday court appearance in Houston after Colombian officials transferred him to the U.S. on Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said. He is accused of an international drug conspiracy and providing material support to Tren de Aragua (TdA), which the Trump administration designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2025.

“This is the first time ever that a TdA member has been charged with terrorism-related crimes and been extradited to the U.S.,” FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday, calling it “history being made.”

Court records do not yet list an attorney for Martinez.

Martinez’s alleged conspiracy involved “five kilograms of cocaine or more in Colombia intended for distribution in the United States,” the DOJ said. Colombian authorities captured Martinez in March 2025 at U.S. request. “As a TdA leader, Flores allegedly oversaw criminal activities in Colombia such as drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, and murder,” according to the department.

At least hundreds of potential TdA members entered the U.S. under Biden during a Venezuelan illegal immigrant wave, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported. President Donald Trump pledged to aggressively target the gang on the 2024 campaign trail after it made headlines for violently controlling Colorado apartments.

Trump’s expansion of foreign terrorist designations allows the U.S. to prosecute South American cartels and gangs just as it does Islamic extremist groups that typically receive the label. A superseding indictment in Martinez’s case charges three other alleged TdA leaders with providing material support for terrorism, the DOJ said.

The Trump administration has also bombed several boats allegedly used by traffickers, including TdA, to transport drugs from Venezuela. Trump’s aggressive campaign against the country’s criminal networks culminated in January 2026 with the U.S. military’s dramatic capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife in Caracas on drug and weapons charges.