US intelligence memo says Maduro 'probably does not' control Tren de Aragua

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime does not direct the activities of the Tren de Aragua, according to a newly public memo released by U.S. intelligence agencies last month.

The memo, published Monday by the New York Times, undercuts President Donald Trump’s justifications for using the Alien Enemies Act to facilitate deportations. The report represents the “sense of the community” of the National Intelligence Council and states they have not found a direct link between Maduro’s regime and TdA leadership.

“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the report states.

“The IC bases this judgment on Venezuelan law enforcement actions demonstrating the regime treats TDA as a threat; an uneasy mix of cooperation and confrontation rather than top-down directives [that] characterize the regime’s ties to other armed groups; and the decentralized makeup of TDA that would make such a relationship logistically challenging,” the memo continues.

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While the memo cuts against the claim that support for TdA is a direct policy from Maduro’s regime, it does note that FBI analysts agree that “some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members’ migration from Venezuela to the United States and use members as proxies … to advance what they see as the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety in these countries.”

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The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing, has been invoked three times, during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

Trump’s administration declared in March that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years or older who are members of TdA, are within the U.S. and are not naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the U.S. may be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as “alien enemies.”

Key to the White House’s argument is its claim that TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolás Maduro regime-sponsored narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela.