The Trump government told Fox News on Monday that an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was thought to be the leader of the violent Tren de Aragua gang was caught in Los Angeles County last week.
Yonaiker Gallegos, whose real name was Yoniaker Rafel Martinez-Ramos, was already in local jail on misdemeanour charges of having blank checks and a fake government ID.
A top official in the Trump administration said that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) found him on April 22. After learning about the things Martinez-Ramos had on him when he was arrested by local police, agents were able to figure out that his name was probably a fake.
On April 23, HSI’s National Gang Unit got pictures of Martinez-Ramos’ tattoos and booking shots, which proved for sure that he was Gallegos.
The official said that analysts were also able to find his social media posts and pictures, which proved that he was indeed Yonaiker Gallegos using face recognition technology.
Fox News got a video from Gallegos’s social media that reportedly showed him showing off grenades and a gun.
The top official said he was arrested on April 25 for violating Title 8 (immigration laws). They also said he was “identified as a leader of TDA based in California.”
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) also stated that Gallegos had been arrested.
HSI Los Angeles worked with state and local police to arrest Gallegos on immigration-related charges and bring him into federal custody.