{"id":143393,"date":"2025-06-25T19:29:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=143393"},"modified":"2025-06-25T19:29:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:29:17","slug":"rep-mackenzie-applauds-committee-passage-of-bill-targeting-dangerous-venezuelan-gangs-in-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=143393","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Mackenzie Applauds Committee Passage of Bill Targeting Dangerous Venezuelan Gangs in the U.S.  "},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C.<\/strong> \u2014 Today, Congressman Ryan Mackenzie, representing the Greater Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania\u2019s 7th Congressional District, supported the successful advancement of H.R. 4070<\/a>, the Tren de Aragua Border Security Threat Assessment Act<\/em>, <\/strong>out of the House Homeland Security Committee. The bill, which Congressman Mackenzie co\u2011sponsored, requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue a full threat assessment of Tren de Aragua \u2014a violent transnational criminal organization\u2014 and to develop a strategic plan to dismantle its operations in the United States.<\/p>

 <\/p>

\u201cViolent, foreign criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua are a clear and present danger to our country and our local communities,\u201d said Congressman Mackenzie<\/strong>. \u201cMembers of this Venezuelan gang have operated here in the Lehigh Valley, including Luis Gualdron-Gualdron, the individual who was released from Northampton County jail several months ago \u2018after an immigration detainer was not honored,\u2019 according to ICE<\/a>. I’m committed to ensuring that members of violent cartels do not have a home here in our region.\u201d<\/p>

Tren de Aragua, the largest criminal organization in Venezuela, has expanded rapidly<\/a> across the U.S. in recent years. Its members have been tied to crimes including drug smuggling, human trafficking, kidnapping, organized retail theft, extortion, and murder. Law enforcement agencies across the country have raised alarms about Tren de Aragua\u2019s growing presence in the United States, with members suspected of exploiting weaknesses in the previous administration\u2019s immigration enforcement to enter the country<\/a> and embed in local communities. Earlier this year, three alleged members were charged<\/a> with homicide and other crimes following a deadly shooting in Monroe County. <\/p>

The bill, introduced by Rep. Brad Knott (R\u2011NC), received strong support from majority members of the Homeland Security Committee and passed out of markup earlier today. The Tren de Aragua Border Security Threat Assessment Act now awaits consideration by the full House of Representatives.<\/p>

Information provided to TVL by:<\/p>

Lexie Manning<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2014 Today, Congressman Ryan Mackenzie, representing the Greater Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania\u2019s 7th Congressional District, supported the successful advancement of H.R. 4070, the Tren de Aragua Border Security Threat Assessment Act, out of … Continue reading Rep. Mackenzie Applauds Committee Passage of Bill Targeting Dangerous Venezuelan Gangs in the U.S.  <\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Congressman-Ryan-Mackenzie.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143393"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=143393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/139444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=143393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=143393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=143393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}