Mexican authorities conducted several recent operations against Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization (TCO) designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Six members of Tren de Aragua recently were arrested on charges including extortion, drug offenses and human trafficking in Mexico City, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Omar García Harfuch said at a February 10, 2026, news conference. “This joint work between the institutions of the Security Cabinet and the coordination of state authorities has made it possible to weaken criminal structures, arrest priority targets, combat high-impact crimes and provide greater protection to citizens,” he said, according to a transcript.
Among those detained was Lesli Valeri N., who is believed to be responsible for collecting profits from human trafficking, extortion and drug sales. Another Tren de Aragua leader known as Bryan N. also was charged with activities related to human trafficking and protecting TCO members from police. Mexican authorities have struck back against the Venezuelan-based gang after it established a stronghold in Mexico City, controlling the prostitution, drug and other criminal activities in several neighborhoods, according to the Border Report, a U.S. news site focused on Mexico-U.S. relations. In the last two years, Tren de Aragua has taken over human trafficking of women in parts of Mexico City, most of whom enter through Mexico’s southern border. The FTO forced them into sex work and drug sales to pay off smuggling debts as high as $14,000, reported La Jornada, a Mexican newspaper.
The newspaper reported that Mexican authorities launched 103 human trafficking investigations between 2023 and 2027. More than a quarter occurred in the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood of Mexico City where local authorities “have detected total control by Tren de Aragua.”
Mexico has stepped up counter-TCO efforts since October 2024 when President Claudia Sheinbaum took office. At the February 10 news conference, Mexican officials said that security forces had disrupted TCO activity across the country, citing the following statistics between October 1, 2024, and January 2026:
- 43,438 people were arrested.
- More than 327 tons of drugs were seized, including more than 4 million fentanyl pills.
- 22,800 firearms were seized.
- More than 2,000 methamphetamine laboratories were dismantled.
- 51 tons of cocaine were seized at sea
“This represents a direct impact on the financial and operational capacities of criminal organizations, in addition to preventing millions of doses of drugs from reaching young people on the streets,” García Horfuch said.
In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 70 members of Tren de Aragua for violent crimes including murder, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering and drug trafficking, according to a Justice Department news release. Since January 2025, 260 members of the FTO have been arrested, the department stated.
“Tren de Aragua is a ruthless, highly organized, and rapidly expanding foreign terrorist organization that thrives on chaos and human suffering,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Terrance Cole said, according to the release. “They exploit alliances with other terrorist-designated groups and transnational networks.”
Mexico-U.S. cooperation on countering TCOs has increased significantly in recent years with multiple joint training missions and coordination between thousands of troops on both sides of the 3,145-kilometer frontier.