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As the Venezuelan jail gang Tren de Aragua continues to develop its footprint within the United States, authorities say one more member of the legal enterprise is linked to the unlawful immigrant accused within the brutal homicide of a Georgia school scholar earlier this 12 months.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is being held with out bail for allegedly killing nursing scholar Laken Riley, 22, as she jogged on the University of Georgia campus in February. He has pleaded not responsible to a spread of prices, together with homicide and kidnapping.
Authorities additionally arrested his 29-year-old brother, Diego Ibarra, for alleged inexperienced card fraud after they are saying he used faux identification to get a job in Athens. Both have been suspected of getting ties to Tren de Aragua, or TdA.
Their youthful brother, Argenis Ibarra, who additionally entered the U.S. illegally and was deported twice earlier than he joined them in Georgia, can also be a suspected member of the gang, the New York Post reported Friday, citing Homeland Security sources.
VIOLENT VENEZUELAN PRISON GANG INFILTRATING US, BECOMING MORE ORGANIZED AND BRAZEN: ‘MS-13 ON STEROIDS’
Laken Riley poses for a photograph posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing scholar on the University of Georgia, was discovered lifeless close to a lake on campus on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from News Digital.
An ICE spokesperson beforehand confirmed that the youngest Ibarra entered the U.S. twice illegally in 2023 — first on April 3 after which once more three weeks later. He was taken into ICE custody after authorities discovered him in Athens, Georgia, whereas looking for Riley’s killer on Feb. 23.
Authorities across the nation have been warning of the violent Tren de Aragua gang for months.
TdA members have been linked to a mob assault on law enforcement officials in New York City earlier this 12 months — and extra just lately, Homeland Security officers warned that the gang was urging its members to kill police.
ICE CAPTURES 2 SUSPECTED VENEZUELAN GANG MEMBERS IN CONNECTION WITH NYPD ASSAULT
Jose Ibarra seems in court docket for a standing listening to within the Laken Riley homicide case. (WAGA)
The gang has additionally been blamed for a spike in strong-arm robberies utilizing motorized scooters as getaway automobiles, organized retail theft and human trafficking. According to federal prosecutors, it has established a presence in New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois and Georgia and continues to develop.
The gang’s imagery contains Chicago Bulls paraphernalia and tattoos of crowns, trains and different symbols, in addition to the hand gesture pictured beneath.
The hand signal proven right here, with index finger, pinky and thumb prolonged and the opposite fingers closed in, is a gesture typically utilized by the Tren de Aragua jail gang, in response to federal prosecutors. (Middle District of Georgia)
Tren de Aragua started its worldwide growth with a turf battle throughout the Colombian border in 2018, in response to InSight Crime, a nonprofit group that research legal organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Facing powerful competitors within the drug trafficking enterprise, the gang took up human trafficking and smuggling as a substitute.
Federal prosecutors say Tren de Aragua members typically put on Chicago Bulls clothes, even after they haven’t any ties to Chicago and usually are not followers of the crew. Investigators discovered this photograph amongst a number of photographs of Diego Ibarra, a suspected member of the gang, sporting Chicago Bulls gadgets. (Middle District of Georgia)
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As it expanded, it violently seized territory from smaller native teams, in response to the nonprofit. It now operates in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil — because it grows within the U.S.
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