United States Announces Plans To Extradite Three Tren De Aragua Members, Who Have Been Declared Alien Enemies, Wanted By Chile For Homicide And Kidnapping Offenses

The U.S. Justice Department released the information below:

Earlier today, the United States declared three members of Tren de Aragua (TdA) Alien Enemies and announced plans to extradite them to Chile, where they are wanted for violent crimes including homicide, kidnapping for ransom, and other offenses.

TdA is a foreign terrorist organization with thousands of members, many of whom have unlawfully entered the United States to commit brutal crimes, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and human and drug trafficking. Three known TdA members, Adrian Rafael Gamez Finol, Miguel Oyola Jimenez, and Edgar Javier Benitez Rubio, illegally entered the United States after allegedly committing horrific crimes in Chile.  Recognizing the grave threat that TdA poses to the nations it infiltrates, Chile has asked the United States to help return these men to Chile to face justice. Today, the Department of Justice announced that it will take swift action to grant these requests and send these Alien Enemies to Chile.   

“These three Tren de Aragua members pose a grave risk to the public safety and national security of the United States, just as they allegedly did in Chile,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Based on their membership in TdA, they have been declared Alien Enemies. We will not tolerate violent illegal aliens in our country. The Justice Department is taking every step within the bounds of the law to ensure these individuals are promptly sent to Chile to face justice for their abhorrent crimes. In fact, we would have already removed these violent gang members to Chile to face justice were it not for the nationwide injunction imposed by a single judge in Washington D.C., which we are challenging today in the D.C. Circuit,” he added.  “We hope common sense and justice will prevail.”

The three TdA members are:

• Adrian Rafael Gamez Finol, also known as Rafael Enrique Gamez Salas, 38, a dual Venezuelan and Colombian citizen, is wanted in Chile for extortion, kidnapping resulting in homicide, kidnapping for extortion, unjustified firearm discharge, and criminal association. Gamez Finol was removed from the United States to Venezuela in August 2023, and allegedly subsequently illegally re-entered the United States. On Feb. 18, Gamez Finol was indicted in the Southern District of Texas for illegally reentering the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Gamez Finol is currently in Texas county prison serving a sentence for human smuggling;
• Miguel Oyola Jimenez, 37, a dual Venezuelan and Ecuadorian citizen, is wanted in Chile for two counts of kidnapping for ransom. Oyola Jimenez is currently in federal custody in the Western District of Washington, having been arrested on a provisional arrest request submitted by Chilean authorities seeking his return to Chile to stand trial on the kidnapping charges; and
• Edgar Javier Benitez Rubio, 37, a Venezuelan citizen, is wanted in Chile for kidnapping with homicide, kidnapping for ransom, and criminal association. Benitez Rubio is in immigration custody in the Southern District of Indiana, pending removal.

The Justice Department will work expeditiously to return these Alien Enemies to Chile to face justice.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.