A high-ranking Tren de Aragua (TdA) leader was extradited to the United States on May 14.
Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, one of the leaders of the Venezuelan-based gang, arrived in Houston from Colombia on Thursday night, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
“This is the first time ever that a TdA member has been charged with terrorism-related crimes and been extradited to the U.S.—history made pursuant to President Trump’s executive order last summer designating Tren de Aragua as [a foreign terrorist organization],” Patel wrote in a statement on Thursday.
Flores allegedly worked in multiple South American countries, and his alleged operations included gold smuggling, narcotics exporting, and violent crime, according to an unsealed indictment from December 2025.
The Justice Department also accused him of overseeing criminal activities in Colombia, such as drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, and murder, according to a news release.
The process of extraditing Flores, who goes by “Chuqui,” was part of a collaborative effort between FBI Houston, Houston Homeland Security Task Force and international, federal, state, and local partners in Texas.
“FBI Houston is paving the way when it comes to aggressively pursuing terrorist organizations like TdA, whether it’s on U.S. soil or abroad.” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Houston Field Office Jason Hudson wrote in a statement.
Flores was first arrested and held in Colombia in March 2025 on a provisional arrest warrant requested by the United States.
The 24-year-old, a Venezuelan national, is charged with one count of conspiring to provide material support to TdA in the form of personnel—including himself—and services and one count of providing material support to TdA.
Flores is scheduled to make his federal court appearance on May 15.
If convicted, he could face up to life in prison and a potential $10 million fine.
Flores was named with three other Venezuelan nationals, including multiple alleged high-ranking members of TdA, in the unsealed indictment.
One of the suspects named alongside Flores in the indictment was Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, who is on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List. He’s accused of being one of the “topmost leaders” of the gang.
The two others listed in the indictment, Yohan Jose Romero and Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez, are also fugitives.
In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, the Justice Department federally indicted more than 260 members of TdA.
The Epoch Times contacted the FBI for the latest numbers but did not hear back before publication.