The United States Treasury Department has sanctioned Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, the alleged leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA), as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to crack down on foreign gangs and criminal networks in the US.
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Mosquera Serrano faces charges related to drug trafficking and terrorism, and has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list with a $3 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Tren de Aragua, under Mosquera Serrano’s leadership, of “terrorizing our communities and facilitating the flow of illicit narcotics into our country”. This move is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to combat criminal activity tied to foreign gangs, which has been used to justify the use of emergency powers, including the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The Trump administration has claimed that Tren de Aragua is coordinating its US activities with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, although a memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence suggests that the Maduro government likely sees Tren de Aragua as a threat and does not direct its movements in the US.
The gang’s activities have been linked to human smuggling, trafficking, gender-based violence, money laundering, and illicit drug trafficking in Latin America.
In a related development, the US and Colombia have offered joint multimillion-dollar rewards for information leading to the arrest of Mosquera Serrano and two other men believed to lead Tren de Aragua. The gang was sanctioned in July 2025 as a transnational criminal organization for engaging in diverse criminal activities.