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Tren de Aragua
Donald Trump’s ‘invasion model’
On the night of 15/16 March this year, three aircraft landed at San Salvador airport. They arrived from the United States and were carrying onboard 238 Venezuelan deportees and 23 Salvadoran citizens for repatriation. Earlier that same day President Trump had announced he was invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out these summary deportations. He said many of those on the flight were criminals. The controversial law, which has been on the statute books for over 200 years, has gathered some dust: it has not been used since the Second World War. In line with its terminology Trump said the United States was a victim of “irregular warfare” waged by a criminal network, the Tren de Aragua, which aimed to destabilise the country. Earlier, on 19 February, the State Department had designated the TdA as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO), following an executive order to that effect signed by Trump on the day he took office in January.
- “Very, very dangerous people”
- The context: a country in a state of collapse
- Origins: Tocorón prison
- A dystopian hotel?
- The prison business model
- Death of the Tren?
- Life after death: international expansion
- The Ronald Ojeda story
- Donald Trump’s ‘invasion model’
- Unfair deportation: the Kilmar Abrego story
- Is there a connection between crime and migration?
- Conclusion: answering four key questions