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Tren de Aragua members of violent Venezuelan migrant gang arrested in Texas: HSI

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Tren de Aragua members of violent Venezuelan migrant gang arrested in Texas: HSI

Homeland Security agents in Texas successfully apprehended two Venezuelan nationals who were members of the bloodthirsty gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), which has established operations throughout the U.S.

In a release Friday, the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Antonio announced that special agents arrested the two Venezuelan nationals in San Antonio during an enforcement operation targeting the violent gang on Sept. 19.

The agency said that they received information that these individuals were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to illegally transport firearms.

Following their apprehension, both individuals were transferred into ICE custody based on their immigration violations, HSI said. The San Antonio Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) were also involved in the arrests.

TEXAS OFFERS REWARD FOR INFO ON TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBERS THAT SPREAD ‘TERROR AND CARNAGE,’ GOV ABBOTT SAYS

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These images from a CBP intelligence bulletin, show tattoos and identifiers for Tren De Aragua (TdA). Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of known or suspected TdA members.  (ICE)

The TdA is a violent street gang believed to have originated in Venezuelan prisons and moved north over the last decade. 

SUSPECTED TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBERS IN AURORA, COLORADO, RELEASED ON $1,000 BOND

However, its reputation within the U.S. has grown this year, in part, due to a number of high-profile crimes linked to the gang, with many believed to have arrived by coming across the southern border as part of the sharp increase in migration in recent years.

Suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang caught on surveillance footage at the Gateway Hotel in El Paso

The suspected Tren de Aragua gang members engaged in illegal activity including illegal dumping and drug use, according to the El Paso County Attorney’s Office in Texas. (KFOX14 / El Paso County Attorney’s Office)

The gang made headlines recently in Aurora, Colorado, where there have been a number of arrests and reports that the gang has taken over entire apartment buildings — something local authorities have pushed back against. 

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TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBERS ARRESTED IN AURORA, COLORADO IN CONNECTION TO APARTMENT BUILDING TAKEOVER: POLICE

The apprehension of the two gang members in San Antonio came after Gov. Greg Abbot declared the gang a “foreign terrorist organization” last week while announcing that the state was taking a more aggressive approach to targeting its members. 

“Tren de Aragua has spread terror and carnage in every country they’ve been in, and Texas will not allow them to gain a foothold in our state,” Abbott said in a statement. “Texas will not let these thugs use our state as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens.”

Greg Abbott

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott makes an announcement on the future of the space industry in the state. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

Abbott has directed DPS to elevate the gang to a Tier 1 gang and to create a TdA Strike Team that will identify and arrest its members. 

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Tipsters can provide information to authorities via the Texas Department of Public Safety’s website by calling 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.



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Southwest

Texas man convicted after saying he mutilated victims, ate human heart as part of 'ritualistic sacrifices'

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Texas man convicted after saying he mutilated victims, ate human heart as part of 'ritualistic sacrifices'

A Texas man was convicted of killing three people, dismembering them and burning their bodies after admitting to investigators that he was called to “commit sacrifices.”

Jason Thornburg was found guilty of capital murder on Wednesday and now, the same Tarrant County jury that convicted him must determine whether he receives a death sentence or if he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Fox 4.

In September 2021, Thornburg killed three people, dismembered their bodies and stored them under his bed at a motel in Euless, Texas, before lighting the bodies on fire inside a dumpster in Fort Worth.

TEXAS LAWMAKER PROPOSES BILL TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY IN LONE STAR STATE: ‘I THINK SENTIMENT IS CHANGING’

Jason Thornburg (Tarrant County Jail)

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Thornburg confessed to investigators that he felt a compulsion to commit “ritualistic sacrifices” and that he ate a victim’s heart and other parts of the victims’ bodies.

His attorneys argued he was insane when he carried out the murders and suffered from a severe mental disease.

ELDERLY MAN ACCUSED OF ROOMMATE AND DOG’S ‘BRUTAL’ MURDER HAD EXTENSIVE CRIMINAL RECORD

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Thornburg confessed to investigators that he was being called to “commit sacrifices” and that he ate a victim’s heart and other parts of the victims’ bodies. (iStock)

When he was arrested on murder allegations, Thornburg confessed to police he killed his roommate in May 2021 during a suspicious home explosion and his girlfriend in Arizona back in 2017.

These two previous murders were brought up in court on Thursday when the punishment aspect of the trial began.

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The jury must now determine whether he receives a death sentence or if he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. (iStock)

The victims’ families cannot speak publicly until the punishment phase is finished.

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Los Angeles, Ca

Vehicle, 2 occupants plunge into crowded Southern California harbor

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Vehicle, 2 occupants plunge into crowded Southern California harbor

Two people were taken to the hospital after a vehicle they were inside plunged into the harbor Sunday night in Marina Del Rey, officials confirmed to KTLA.  

Details are limited and It’s unclear exactly how the incident occurred, but authorities with the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to 4675 Admiralty Way just after 6 p.m. on reports of the vehicle in the water.  

L.A. County Fire Department Public Information Officer Marco Rodriguez said the two occupants were able to get themselves out of the vehicle after it went into the water.  

Both were examined by medical personnel with the fire department and taken to a nearby hospital in unknown condition.  

Rodriguez said that two L.A. County Lifeguard divers were deployed to ensure there were no other occupants trapped in the vehicle.  

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  • Car into Marina del Rey harbor
  • Car into Marina del Rey harbor
  • Car into Marina del Rey harbor
  • Car into Marina del Rey harbor
  • Car into Marina del Rey harbor
  • Car into Marina del Rey harbor
  • Car into Marina del Rey harbor

A witness, Johnny Hamcheck, told KTLA that a third person, a woman, exited the vehicle before it went into water, though officials did not confirm that detail.  

Footage of the recovery effort showed crews attaching large yellow floating devices to the vehicle as it was anchored to a crane and eventually pulled out of the water and loaded onto a tow truck.  

The vehicle showed heavy front-end damage, presumably from crashing through the steel railing and into the water.  

An investigation into the crash is ongoing and no further details were provided.  

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24 states' attorneys general call on Supreme Court to keep biological boys out of girls sports

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24 states' attorneys general call on Supreme Court to keep biological boys out of girls sports

Attorneys general from 24 states are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling and uphold an Arizona law to prohibit biological boys from competing on girls’ sports teams.

The petition comes after a federal appeals court ruled that the law likely violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

“Sports teams are divided by sex to begin with to give girls a level playing field so they’re not competing against boys,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a news release. “Arizona’s law restricting girls’ sports teams to biological females is just common sense, and it protects girls from competing against bigger, stronger males who identify as females.”

FEDERAL JUDGE PUSHES BACK ON PARENTS CALLING TRANS ATHLETE ‘A BOY’ IN LEGAL BATTLE OVER PRO-GIRLS PROTESTS

Alan Wilson (Getty Images)

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In addition to Wilson, the attorneys general supporting the petition are those from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

The petition notes that these states have laws similar to Arizona’s that restrict girls’ sports to biological females.

It also argues that the Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit states from offering separate sports teams for men, women, boys and girls.

GIRLS CATHOLIC SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL TEAM COULD FACE PENALTY AFTER FANS BOO TRANS ATHLETE ON PUBLIC SCHOOL TEAM

Supreme Court building

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“In sports, equal access means a level playing field,” the attorneys general write in their brief. “And a level playing field usually means sports teams divided by sex so that girls can compete against other girls.”

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“Basing the distinction on biology rather than gender identity makes sense because it is the differences in biology—not gender identity—that call for separate teams in the first place: Whatever their gender identity, biological males are, on average, stronger and faster than biological females. If those average physical differences did not matter, there would be no need to segregate sports teams at all,” they continued.

Transgender pride flag

The petition argues that the Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit states from offering separate sports teams for men, women, boys and girls. (ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)

The attorneys general are asking the high court to “make it clear that the Constitution does not prohibit states from saving women’s sports from unfair competition and providing meaningful athletic opportunities for girls and women,” according to Wilson’s news release.

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