The Gateway Pundit and Behind Enemy Lines podcast were among the first to report on the presence of Tren de Aragua – a transnational criminal gang out of Venezuela – in the Second City.
In February of 2024, The Gateway Pundit reported on potential Tren de Aragua gang members showing up in the Chicago suburbs. At the time, Mayor Brandon Johnson instructed Chicago law enforcement to impound buses of illegals heading into Chicago from the Texas border.
A recent FOIA response obtained by Terry Newsome of Behind Enemy Lines podcast shows 184 pages of arrests of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members. This FOIA specifically requested any arrests associated with Tren de Aragua gang members between the timeframe of February 1st, 2023 – February 15th, 2025.
The crimes run the gamut, including driving without a license or registration, assault, battery, fake social security card, possession of crack cocaine, possession of cannabis, assault with a knife, retail theft, and armed robbery with a machine gun.
There are a few stolen vehicle reports. What’s interesting however, is most of these cases involve a traffic stop for either a fake temporary registration tag or license plates and no valid driver’s license. With the overwhelming majority of cases citing invalid registration or driving without a valid license, the question becomes where are these illegal aliens getting their vehicles if they are not stolen?
While it may be harder to tell how these illegals are obtaining vehicles, there appears to be a history of documentation counterfeiting for illegal aliens. It has long been a coordinated effort. As the FOIA documents show, one illegal had a fake Social Security card on his person.
The fake documentation is concerning. There has long been an incentivization for employers to hire non-citizens because they provide cheap labor. However, this cheap labor prices many Americans out of jobs. A Center for Immigration Studies article documents this very practice which was apprehended by ICE.
“…during an April 2008 raid at Pilgrim’s Pride meat packing plants, more than 280 employees at facilities in five states were arrested on suspicion of committing identity theft and other criminal violations in order to obtain jobs.”
What’s more, Illinois has seen a legislative assault on the American worker in recent years. Several bills have been signed into law protecting illegals from accountability and shielding them from the efforts of deportation by ICE.
For example, Public Act 103-0232 amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to make it a human rights violation for anyone in a real estate transaction to discriminate based on immigration status. Another bill, HB3882 , allows illegals to obtain IDs or driver’s licenses indistinguishable from that of citizens.
Public Act 103-1063 allows illegals to change their name after three months residency instead of the previous threshold of six months. It also allows the person to impound their file to be hidden from public record and allows their address to be omitted from court documents.
Shockingly, SB0508 amends the E-Verify process in Illinois. This bill forces an employer to not impose eligibility verifications outside of those required by federal law. It also imposes responsibilities on the employer to notify the worker of deficient documentation. The employer must give the worker specific time frames to correct documentation. The worker has rights to have “representation,” and the employer must provide 72 hours’ notice of any employment eligibility inspections.
The effort by Illinois Democrats is an obvious attempt to protect illegal aliens at the expense of the Illinois taxpayer and worker. Further complicating the situation is the Safe-T Act. This law was passed in the dead of night in 2022. It protects all criminals in Illinois from accountability through the introduction of cashless bail. In combination with the assault weapons ban, a perfect storm for complete Socialist chaos has hit the Prairie State. As indicated in the FOIA documents the assault weapons ban did not prevent a Tren de Aragua illegal immigrant from obtaining a “machine gun” used in a robbery.
In the below clip, Terry Newsome notes the inconsistency in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s testimony before Congress when Johnson repeatedly says he complies with Federal law. Newsome notes that while Marijuana is legal to sell in the State of Illinois, the selling of Marijuana remains illegal at the Federal level. Further, Newsome references Representative Anna Paulina Luna’s criminal referral to the Attorney General previously reported on by The Gateway Pundit.
Mayors from Chicago, Boston, NY, and Denver lied to Congress last week. Not just about breaking federal immigration law. ALL of them said they don’t break ANY Federal laws. ALL of them are illegal selling weed. @BenBergquam @annvandersteel @realDonaldTrump @RealTomHoman… pic.twitter.com/oHIu5Sc10V
— Terry Newsome (@TerryNewsome357) March 9, 2025
In Illinois, majority Democrat rule has led to the prioritization of illegal aliens and an intentional exacerbation of criminal activity. In addition, civil rights are being violated with the removal of Second Amendment protections.
The evidence shows that the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago have opened the door to a transnational criminal gang. Furthermore, they’ve created legislation to protect them from detection by Federal Law Enforcement.
The question for Illinoisans becomes: What is the tipping point for change?
Read the full article here