The violent Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua (TDA) is operating in every major city in Tennessee, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Director David Rausch informed Gov. Bill Lee during a budget hearing this week.
“We uncovered a group here in a human trafficking operation, and in that operation we recognized a number of the members here trafficking females that they had abducted from Venezuela and brought here,” Rausch said.
Following initial arrests, many gang members fled the state, but they have since returned.
“Now what we are seeing is they are back,” Rausch told the governor. “They are running human trafficking operations. That’s where they start.”
Rausch explained that TDA typically begins with human trafficking, then moves into organized retail theft, and eventually engages in drug trafficking, often confronting other criminal organizations like cartels.
“They have a pathway of violence, and we want people to be aware of that,” he said. “They will battle for the drug trafficking in communities.”
The gang is known for extreme violence and disregard for law enforcement.
“They are very violent toward policing—they have no respect for law enforcement,” Rausch warned. “They will fight, and they will attack police.”
In response to the briefing, Lee acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and later addressed it publicly.
“We are concerned,” he said, noting that while the public doesn’t need to “watch outside their homes,” awareness is crucial.
“We want the public to be diligent as always in paying attention in their communities for signs of things like human trafficking,” Rausch advised. “For more information on that, we have data available on what to look for and how to spot potential victims or situations of trafficking so that you can notify us and let us know so that we can immediately respond and address these situations.”
Rausch noted that the issue is not unique to Tennessee.
“They are all over the place, governor, it’s not just Tennessee,” he said during the budget hearing.
He mentioned that during recent meetings with the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, other states reported similar experiences with TDA.
“This is not a unique situation that Tennessee is experiencing,” Rausch said.
The TBI is actively monitoring the gang’s activities and sharing information with local law enforcement agencies.
“We are sending out information through our law enforcement sensitive networks to our policing organizations so that they are aware of who these folks are, how to identify them, and how to approach and address them,” Rausch explained.
He acknowledged that some local law enforcement officials might not be aware of TDA’s presence due to the complexity of intelligence gathering.
“There are times where they may be unaware of actors that may be moving in and out of their area that we are tracking,” Rausch said.
Rausch stressed the importance of addressing the threat before it escalates.
“What we don’t want to happen is to see them move into those next phases,” he stated. “We want to stop them where they are right now, and that’s why we’re raising the issue.”
