Federal agents have arrested more than 2,700 members of transnational criminal organizations designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday.
Among those arrested are members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan prison gang labeled an FTO by the Trump administration in February.
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As part of a broad crackdown on crime, some district judges had attempted to block the removal of TdA members and other violent criminals. These efforts, detailed by The Center Square, included injunctions that halted immigration enforcement, including high-profile deportations of TdA members.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday barring district judges from issuing nationwide injunctions, Bondi said, “No longer will we have rogue judges striking down President Trump’s policies across the entire nation.” She emphasized that the 6-3 decision “correctly holds that the district court lacks authority to enter nationwide or universal injunctions. These lawless injunctions gave relief to everyone in the world instead of the parties before the court,” effectively turning “district courts into the imperial judiciary.”
Bondi added, “A handful of district judges tried to seize the executive branch’s power and they cannot do that. Their injunctions allowed district court judges to be emperors. They vetoed all of President Trump’s power, and they cannot do that.”
Out of 94 federal judicial districts, just five issued a record 35 nationwide injunctions—part of a total of 40 issued since Trump returned to office.
“No longer,” Bondi said. “These injunctions have blocked our policies from tariffs to military readiness to immigration to foreign affairs, fraud, abuse and many other issues.”
The ruling will influence dozens of legal battles, as over 300 lawsuits have challenged the administration’s policies, according to The Center Square.
On immigration enforcement alone, Friday marked the 2,711th arrest of individuals tied to FTO-designated transnational criminal groups. Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, the FBI, and other federal agencies are leading these efforts.
In January, Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of State to classify certain transnational criminal organizations as FTOs. A month later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio officially designated eight groups:
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Tren de Aragua (Aragua Train)
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Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
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Cartel de Sinaloa (Sinaloa Cartel, Mexican Federation, Guadalajara Cartel)
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Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG, Jalisco New Generation Cartel)
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Carteles Unidos (United Cartels, Tepalcatepec Cartel, Cartel de Tepalcatepec, The Grandfather Cartel, Cartel del Abuelo, Cartel de Los Reyes)
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Cartel del Noreste (CDN, Northeast Cartel, Los Zetas)
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Cartel del Golfo (CDG, Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas-Guillen Organization)
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La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM)
In May, Rubio added two violent Haitian gangs—Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif—to the list of FTOs and designated them as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, The Center Square reported.
The Trump administration began its crackdown on these organizations in response to a surge of illegal border crossings during the Biden administration, particularly from FTO-linked nations such as Venezuela, El Salvador, and Mexico. As the crisis escalated, TdA-related violence spread across at least 22 U.S. states, The Center Square reported exclusively.
The administration is also targeting violent actors from adversarial nations like China and state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran.
During his first 100 days in office, Trump’s National Counterterrorism Center identified nearly 1,200 suspected terrorists who had entered the U.S. illegally, according to The Center Square.
