A former Drug Enforcement Administration special agent says the activities of the violent Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), in Texas, could be “just the beginning.”

“TdA is a criminal organization and they grow, they metastasize,” former DEA Special Agent Michael Brown told NBCDFW this week. “So right now, within some communities in Texas, maybe one or two members. Six months from now, it could be 600 members.”

Brown currently serves as global director of counter-narcotics at Rigaku Analytical Devices.

“America does not need another violent criminal organization from south central, south America, setting up operations in their cities,” the former DEA special agent added.

TdA Gang Activity in Texas (Texas Department of Public Safety

The Texas Senate Committee on Border Security conducted a hearing on Thursday. During the hearing, Texas Department of Public Safety Director, Colonel Steve McCraw told the senators, “El Paso is the hot spot, the hottest spot right now, for the reasons we talked about.”

Earlier this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a proclamation declaring the Venezuelan TdA gang to be a Foreign Terrorist Organization, Breitbart Texas reported.  The move gives Texas law enforcement officials additional tools and resources to attack the gang and “disrupt their criminal operations and deny their foothold in the state,” the governor stated.

During Fiscal Year 2020, President Donald Trump’s last full year in office, Border Patrol agents apprehended only 465 Venezuelan migrants who crossed from Mexico into the five Texas-based sectors. During the first year of the Biden-Harris administration, a dramatic increase in crossings led to the apprehension of nearly 68,000 Venezuelan migrants.

Venezuelan Migrants Entering Texas-Based Border Sectors (Texas Department of Public Safety)

From FY21-FY24 year-to-date, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 499,000 Venezuelan migrants who illegally entered the United States in the five Texas-based Border Patrol Sectors, Texas DPS officials reported.

“Our goal is to defend Texas from the growing threat of the gang,” Abbott concluded in his address on Monday. “We will not let them use Texas as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens.”

“They have a target on their back, and we are going after them,” the governor stated. “Texas is the wrong state for them to try to do business in.”

Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.