Dozens of notorious Tren de Aragua gangsters have been arrested at the border after seemingly blindingly following their Google maps onto an international bridge teeming with US immigration agents.
About 40 TdA members were arrested at Ambassador Bridge which connects Detroit, Michigan to Canada – and they weren’t even trying to sneak into the US or Canada.
The gangsters had simply been following their GPS which routed them on to the well-secured international crossing, where shocked agents took them into custody.
Tren de Aragua, which is originally from Venezuela, is believed to have crossed into the US through the Mexico-US border during 2022, mixed in with the the thousands of South American migrants seeking asylum.
Since then, the gang has spread to at least half of America’s states.
The arrests of dozens of TdA members to the Great Lake State makes it the 25th states where TdA has been confirmed by law enforcement officials to be operating.
Retired FBI agent Dan Brunner, who spent years tracking down migrant gang MS-13, estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 mobsters associated with the South American syndicate in the US.
‘Some of these would be hardcore members, but that number also includes the associates of the gang or people helping them who aren’t necessarily members but are also flying the flag for them,’ he told DailyMail.com Thursday.
The gangsters caught at the northern border weren’t the only migrants taken into custody after making a wrong turn.
The ACLU reports some 213 have been taken into custody by immigration officials at the same international bridge since Trump took office in January, according to local station WXYZ.
One woman and her two small children were detained after she said she was following her GPS instructions to a grocery store.
The navigator was trying to get store on the Canadian side of the border when she ended up at the crossing and ended up in holding cell.
‘This was a windowless room. They slept on cots, were provided microwavable meals, like macaroni and cheese, ramen and oatmeal, were not permitted to contact their consulate or counsel,’ Ruby Robinson of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center told the local outlet.
About a dozen families have been taken into custody following the mistake, according to NPR.
A family with two young kids who are US citizens spent 12 days in detention.
The children were separated from the parents and their location is currently unknown, the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center revealed.