Dallas home invasion shows threat from Venezuelan gangs is real

The ruthless Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang is becoming a household name in the United States, on the lips of Republican politicians and attacking the Biden administration’s border policies. Many Democrats, for their part, want you to dismiss reports of gang activity in the US as election-year exaggerations.

You should be wary of political rhetoric that portrays all Venezuelan immigrants as violent criminals. The vast majority of them are not. But Tren de Aragua and a rival gang known as the Anti-Tren pose a real threat. While we do not know the full extent of their presence and crimes in the United States, law enforcement records show that their tentacles have reached Texas and the Dallas area. A recent home invasion in Bluffview near Dallas Love Field underscores why local police agencies must be on high alert, working with federal partners to counter this gang threat before its roots take root deeper in North Texas.

On September 21, four men cornered a woman as she pulled into a garage and dragged her into a home at gunpoint. According to a police affidavit, the woman was pistol-whipped and tied up with her own clothes as men ransacked her home. They stole $75,000 in jewelry, designer handbags, a bank card and the woman’s iPhone.

According to a police affidavit, authorities linked a fingerprint at the crime scene to a Venezuelan man named Manuel Hernandez Hernandez, 28, who admitted to being present during the robbery and implicating four other suspects, including the getaway driver. Hernandez Hernandez told police that the other suspects were members of the Anti-Tren gang – a group made up of former Tren de Aragua members – and that they were involved in sex trafficking. The man told detectives that he had known one of the suspects for 15 years and that they grew up together.

“Manuel Hernandez-Hernandez maintained that he was not part of a gang, but that other members were known to promote prostitution and possess firearms,” Dallas police said in the affidavit.

We are concerned about what we have learned about the men’s records. Hernandez Hernandez crossed the border unchecked in March near El Paso and pleaded guilty in May to driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to three days in jail, federal officials said. Officials did not say where exactly.

Colleyville police arrested Hernandez Hernandez following a traffic stop on Sept. 19, a couple days before the Dallas robbery. Records show he was charged with five misdemeanors, including possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without a license, and was released from jail the next day. A Colleyville police spokeswoman told us Hernandez Hernandez did not have an immigrant in custody at the time of his release.

An immigration detainer is a notice informing local authorities that federal authorities plan to take custody of a suspect who is not a U.S. citizen and is eligible for deportation.

Another suspect, Carlos Alberto Martinez Silva, arrived at a U.S. port of entry in California in July. He was allowed into the country pending immigration proceedings, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

Two other robbery suspects – Ian Torrealba Sanabria and Wilmer Colmenares Gonzalez – encountered Border Patrol agents in 2023 near Eagle Pass and Brownsville, respectively. Both were released pending hearings in immigration court in Dallas in January 2025.

We don’t know how the fifth suspect, Jarlen Flores Guana, came to the United States. He and four other robbery suspects now have immigration detainees, according to ICE and county records.

Our editors contacted the Dallas Police Department with questions about the potential presence of Venezuelan gangs. The department declined our request for an interview.

We also contacted the FBI office in Dallas. The agency outlined its efforts to investigate gang activity. The company said in a statement that it targets violent gangs with its local and state partners through its Safe Streets Violent Gang Task Force and that it works closely with the community to source and generate leads.

It’s no surprise that potential gang members have infiltrated the southern border. A recent federal audit found that the Department of Homeland Security’s technologies and procedures were “not fully effective” in screening and screening of asylum seekers. The agency fails to rescreen asylum seekers for potential threats during the months and years it takes to process hundreds of thousands of asylum applications.

This problem is exacerbated when it comes to travelers from Venezuela, a country with which the United States does not have diplomatic relations or data-sharing agreements.

Local police cannot control immigration screening protocols, but they can proactively share intelligence with other law enforcement agencies and federal partners, especially when it comes to crimes like sex trafficking that often cross city and state lines.

Earlier this year, three Venezuelan nationals linked to Tren de Aragua were charged with involvement in sex trafficking. The victim told Border Patrol agents in El Paso that a gang member paid to smuggle her into the U.S. and pressured her to pay off her debt through prostitution, according to a federal criminal complaint. The woman said the gang had “stash houses” in Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey and Florida, and that up to 30 women were victims of human trafficking. Local authorities searched a Baton Rouge apartment after a Spanish-speaking woman called to say she had been trafficked, according to the complaint. Officers found money, condoms and ledgers.

“The books appear to document how much money each victim made each day and how much of their ‘debt’ remained,” the federal complaint states.

Bianca Davis, CEO of New Friends New Life, a Dallas-based nonprofit that helps victims of human trafficking, told us that the vast majority of the people she helps are locals, not immigrants. She said she expects the number of immigrants the organization helps to grow as it expands its work and immigrant communities become more established.

Davis emphasized that sex trafficking can be discreet and does not require victims to cross borders or even zip codes.

The important thing here is to look at the big picture and reject the fearmongering that blames illegal immigrants for all the crime in our neighborhoods and cities. At the same time, our police, state and federal agencies must remain vigilant against international criminal gangs and actively share information with each other that can help our communities prevent threats.

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