As the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua continues to expand its footprint in the United States, authorities say yet another member of the criminal enterprise is connected to the illegal immigrant accused in the brutal murder of a Georgia college student earlier this year.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is being held without bail for allegedly killing nursing student Laken Riley, 22, as she jogged on the University of Georgia campus in February. He has pleaded not guilty to a range of charges, including murder and kidnapping.
Authorities also arrested his 29-year-old brother, Diego Ibarra, for alleged green card fraud after they say he used fake identification to get a job in Athens. Both were suspected of having ties to Tren de Aragua, or TdA.
Their younger brother, Argenis Ibarra, who also entered the U.S. illegally and was deported twice before he joined them in Georgia, is also a suspected member of the gang, the New York Post reported Friday, citing Homeland Security sources.
VIOLENT VENEZUELAN PRISON GANG INFILTRATING US, BECOMING MORE ORGANIZED AND BRAZEN: ‘MS-13 ON STEROIDS’
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
An ICE spokesperson previously confirmed that the youngest Ibarra entered the U.S. twice illegally in 2023 — first on April 3 and then again three weeks later. He was taken into ICE custody after authorities found him in Athens, Georgia, while searching for Riley’s killer on Feb. 23.
Authorities around the country have been warning of the violent Tren de Aragua gang for months.
TdA members have been linked to a mob assault on police officers in New York City earlier this year — and more recently, Homeland Security officials warned that the gang was urging its members to kill police.
ICE CAPTURES 2 SUSPECTED VENEZUELAN GANG MEMBERS IN CONNECTION WITH NYPD ASSAULT
Jose Ibarra appears in court for a status hearing in the Laken Riley murder case. (WAGA)
The gang has also been blamed for a spike in strong-arm robberies using motorized scooters as getaway vehicles, organized retail theft and human trafficking. According to federal prosecutors, it has established a presence in New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois and Georgia and continues to expand.
The gang’s imagery includes Chicago Bulls paraphernalia and tattoos of crowns, trains and other symbols, as well as the hand gesture pictured below.
The hand sign shown here, with index finger, pinky and thumb extended and the other fingers closed in, is a gesture often used by the Tren de Aragua prison gang, according to federal prosecutors. (Middle District of Georgia)
Tren de Aragua began its international expansion with a turf war across the Colombian border in 2018, according to InSight Crime, a nonprofit group that studies criminal organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Facing tough competition in the drug trafficking business, the gang took up human trafficking and smuggling instead.
Federal prosecutors say Tren de Aragua members often wear Chicago Bulls clothing, even when they have no ties to Chicago and are not fans of the team. Investigators found this photo among multiple images of Diego Ibarra, a suspected member of the gang, wearing Chicago Bulls items. (Middle District of Georgia)
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As it expanded, it violently seized territory from smaller local groups, according to the nonprofit. It now operates in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil — as it grows in the U.S.
