Texas declares Venezuela-based gang a 'terrorist' group

Officials in Texas on Monday designated a Venezuelan gang called the Tren de Aragua as a "foreign terrorist group" and endorsed Donald Trump's claim that many migrants crossing into the United States were released from prisons in Latin America.

The Tren de Aragua is an international criminal organization that operates in several Latin American countries and engages in extortion, homicide, drug trafficking and smuggling of people, authorities say.

Because of a political and economic crisis in Venezuela, many people from that country are allowed to enter the United States and apply for asylum.

But Texas's top border official, Mike Banks, argued that Venezuela "has released prisoners with one condition: you leave Venezuela and don't come back."

He said the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is encouraging such people to come to the United States with what Banks called an open border policy.

Immigration advocates meanwhile say the Biden administration has harshly cracked down on the border with undue restrictions on people wishing to cross and seek asylum.

Appearing at the same press conference as Banks, Governor Greg Abbott formally declared Tren de Aragua a "foreign terrorist organization."

This allows the authorities to go after the gang under a beefed up anti-terrorism law and also allows for the creation of a task force assigned specifically to fight the group.

The move came a week after the presidential debate in which Trump accused Harris baselessly of allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to cross to the United States from Mexico after being released from prisons or mental health care facilities.