Tren de Aragua Gang Member Arrested by ICE in Texas for Various Violent Crimes

Earlier this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Central Texas captured a known member of the terrorist gang Tren de Aragua for questioning regarding a homicide, among other violent crime charges.

Criminal Illegal Immigrant Gang Member Arrested in Texas

Alberth Simancas-Garcia, a criminal illegal immigrant from Venezuela and a known gang member, illegally entered the U.S. secretly on an unknown date. On August 18, 2025, he was ordered by an immigration judge in Dallas to be removed from the country.

Later, in December 2025, a Dallas task force under the Homeland Security investigations (HSI) received intel that Simancas was wanted in Peru for questions related to a homicide. He also was confirmed to have committed other violent crimes like armed robbery, assault, and various firearms violations.

What is Tren de Aragua?

As a highly organized and rapidly expanding foreign terrorist organization, Tren de Aragua is labeled as a cartel that exploits America's borders by ushering in drugs and dangerous criminals to local communities, according to the Department of Justice.

Read More: Don’t Make These Mistakes During a Texas Arrest

 Spanish for "the train of Aragua," the organization's roots date back to 2014 in a Venezuelan prison located in the central state of Aragua called Tocorón prison.

It's believed that the origin of the name is from a railroad union laying tracks between Caracas and Aragua.

The gang was infamous for ordering various crimes like murder, kidnappings, and robberies all from behind bars. As Venezuelans emigrated from the economic decline of the country, so too did the gang's reach, spanning overseas to other countries like the U.S.