A government app meant to vet migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border to legally allow them into the US was used by two men now accused of being vicious Tren de Aragua gang members, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Two Venezuelan men currently being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Aurora, Colorado and who are believed to be members of the bloodthirsty South American gang entered the US via the CBP One Mobile App, their relative exclusively told DailyMail.com.
The uncle, a resident of the Edge of Lowry apartment in the Denver suburb, claims his two nephews have no involvement in a brutal kidnapping of other migrants on Tuesday.
After the two victims, a man and woman were beaten, stabbed and held against their will for hours, they were released and called 911.
Local police descended onto the apartment complex, which the city acknowledges has been run by the criminal organization for months since video of the armed thugs emerged in August.
In all 19 migrants were rounded up and turned over to ICE. Charges against eight migrants have been filed for the kidnapping.
ICE later said three of those people were released, but the remaining 16 are all Venezuelan migrants who were either TdA members or associates of the mob– considered to such a public safety threat that the US government classified TdA a transnational criminal organization over the summer.
The gang is also responsible for a wave of crime across American cities that includes beating police officers, rapes, murders and child prostitution.
The Edge at Lowry apartments was the second property taken over by the South American gang
The uncle of the two men denies they are TdA gangsters.
‘They are hard-working men,’ he explained, sharing their names, birthdate and alien ID numbers.
DailyMail.com is withholding their names since police have yet to bring criminal charges against the men, but police did say they are connected to TdA.
‘They entered the US legally through with the CBP One App over a year ago. They are here legally and trying to do the right thing.’
The app allows migrants in certain areas of Mexico to request a asylum appointment at a port of entry along the US Mexico border.
If the migrant meets the minimums criteria for the asylum claim and if their name does not appear in the FBI or ICE database, the migrant is admitted into the country legally and and even given a work permit.
‘The CBP One App is a huge fraud. It was never meant to do what the Biden Administration is having it do. It was never meant to vet asylum claims,’ John Fabbricatore, the former director of ICE in Colorado told DailyMail.com.
Venezuela does not have diplomatic relations with the US and does not share criminal histories for its citizens with American law enforcement officials.
Any citizen of that country would automatically not show up in US crime data bases unless they had already been previous arrested in the US.
A migrant uses the CBP One app to apply for an appointment to claim asylum in the U.S.
Migrants, seeking asylum in the United States and who previously requested an appointment on the CBP One application, attend their appointment
Venezuelan Jorluis Ocando (left) walks with other migrants after attending their CBP One appointment and crossing to El Paso, Texas on October 22
Tren de Aragua gang tattoos (pictured above) were part of a Department of Homeland Security bulletin that was recently shared with federal agents
‘Things like the CBP One App have made the United States less safe,’ the former ICE chief added.
‘We have let thousands of people in on an app to be minimally vetted.’
The former cop turned border security expert added the obvious question is how many other TdA gangster have been legally allowed into the country.
‘This is a perfect example of how the Biden Administration failed to have a well-thought plan for having people safely come in. The Biden Administration plan for migrant entry is just chaos. ‘
Republican law makers have been calling for an end to the use of the CBP One App at the border for this very reason.
Over a million Venezuelans have been allowed into the US by the Biden Administration since 2021.
Since January 2023 through the end of November 2024, more than 904,500 migrants from Venezuelan, Cuba and Mexico have been granted legal entry to the US through the app, CBP stated.