Venezuelan gang members caught at Detroit-Canada border since Trump's return | Fox News

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Former DEA agent warns Tren de Aragua gang 'spreads like a virus'

Former DEA Senior Special Agent Michael Brown discussed the Tren de Aragua gang's threat in the United States.

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Since President Donald Trump's January inauguration, dozens of suspected Venezuelan violent Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members have been apprehended at key U.S.-Canada border crossings.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed to Fox News Digital that between Jan. 20, 2025 and March 21, 2025, there were 40 suspected TdA members apprehended by agents at the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit to Canada.

The bridge has long been a pressure point for American and Canadian citizens alike who fail to navigate the confusing roadway signage, but the tricky turns have inadvertently become a capture point for violent gang members.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the ACLU of Michigan first sounded the alarm. She said, citing the CBP, that 90% of those detained had inadvertently driven onto the bridge, often due to confusing signage or GPS errors.

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Migrants are seen crossing the northern border.(Customs and Border Protection)

The CBP noted that they do not have intelligence that supports the correlation of Trump's border policies to the TdA bridge apprehensions, but a former DEA special agent said that TdA is shifting gears amid an intensified crackdown on narcotics rings.

Prisoners with MS-13 gang tattoos look out of their cell as unseen Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025.(Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Michael Brown, who is currently the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, attributed the shift of gang members being driven by the resurgence of Trump-era enforcement policies, which are sending shockwaves through gang networks.

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"As a TdA member, I don't want to end up in El Centro," Brown said, referencing the infamous maximum-security prison in El Salvador where gang members are now being deported. "So where do they go? Canada. They know they won't face the same consequences there."​

Migrants flood into Eagle Pass, Texas, waiting to be processed on Dec. 18, 2023.(Fox News)

Brown traced the rise of TdA in the U.S. back to what he calls the Biden administration's "open-border policy," which allowed criminal migrants to gain a foothold in cities across America.

"Sanctuary cities provided political top cover," Brown said. "With mayors and governors unwilling to acknowledge the growing threat."

Detroit, a longtime hub for drug distribution, became a logical launch point for the gang's operations, he said. The group established ties to violent gang networks like the Crips, Bloods and Latin Kings.

The Ambassador Bridge spans the Detroit River to connect Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, Michigan, on April 10, 2020.(Tara Walton for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Brown warned that Canada's more progressive stance on narcotics — including safe injection sites and government-supplied HYDROmorphone pills in provinces like British Columbia — is making it a prime destination for cartels.

"Canada's unofficial open-door policy for criminal organizations isn't new," he said, pointing to long-standing operations by the Hells Angels, Italian mafia, and Asian triads in cities like Montreal and Vancouver. "What you never hear about is them being taken down, because they've figured out how to operate within the system."

"They're underestimating what starts as a few individuals. But like a virus, it spreads quickly — and if not stopped early, it metastasizes into a national crisis."

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Brown fears that the arrival of TdA will not only increase the already dangerous fentanyl and meth lab operations in Canada, but could draw more attention from U.S. authorities and potentially spark turf wars.

"This isn't random," he said. "TdA doesn't send busloads to Canada. They're deploying scouts, making alliances, securing territory. If they find a foothold, then comes the flood."

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a U.S. Writer at Fox News Digital.