The Trump administration is planning to extradite three alleged Tren de Aragua members to Chile, the Department of Justice announced Monday.
The Venezuelan gang, commonly called TdA, has been a focus of the Trump administration. On March 15, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime act that’s only been used three times, to deport over 200 alleged gang members.
The department said three known TdA members named Adrian Rafael Gamez Finol, Miguel Oyola Jimenez and Edgar Javier Benitez Rubio “illegally entered the United States after allegedy committing horrific crimes in Chile.” DOJ declared all three to be “Alien Enemies.”
“Recognizing the grave threat that TdA poses to the nations it infiltrates, Chile has asked the United States to help return these men to Chile to face justice,” the department said. “Today, the Department of Justice announced that it will take swift action to grant these requests and send these Alien Enemies to Chile.”
DOJ said the men are wanted in Chile for extortion, kidnapping resulting in homicide, unjustified firearm discharge, kidnapping for ransom, among other charges.
Oyola Jimenez is in federal custody in the Western District of Washington, the department said. Benitez Rubio is in immigration custody in Indiana, and Gamez Finol is in a Texas county prison, serving a human smuggling sentence.
The extradition comes as U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg and the Trump administration battle over the deportation of roughly 260 alleged members of the gang on March 15.
On Monday, Boasberg declined to lift a restraining order that banned the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans.