Tensions are once again flaring between U.S. political leaders and the intelligence community, as a previously classified memo now declassified, directly contradicts one of the Trump administration’s most controversial claims: the allegation that Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuelan regime was directing the criminal actions of the Tren de Aragua gang to destabilize the United States.
According to the document, an intelligence “sense of the community” report drafted by the National Intelligence Council and made public through the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. agencies do not consider credible any coordination between the Venezuelan government and the well-known criminal organization.
The report, released by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization founded to defend, promote, and fund investigative journalism and press freedom, goes further, stating that Caracas views the group as a threat and actively fights it.
The memo notes that while some corrupt officials may benefit from the gang’s activities, there is no official policy of collaboration by the government. The overall picture is that of a gang lacking centralized command too fragmented to follow directives from the political leadership.
The document deals a serious blow to the narrative used by Donald Trump to invoke the Alien Enemies Act–the only surviving statute from the 18th-century legislative package designed to strengthen federal control over foreigners deemed dangerous–and applied only in wartime contexts. Citing that act, the president had ordered the immediate deportation of Venezuelan nationals to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, claiming they were operating under the “explicit or covert direction of Maduro’s regime.”
The press, particularly The New York Times and The Washington Post, had already questioned the truth of such claims. The revelations sparked a furious reaction from the Department of Justice, which launched an investigation into the leaks and accused the media of distorting classified information. However, the very release of the intelligence memo confirms that those reports were essentially accurate.
Lauren Harper, a representative of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, stated that the declassification proves the content should have been made public from the beginning, rather than used as a pretext to restrict press freedom.
The intelligence community, with the exception of the FBI, was united in rejecting the idea of direct involvement by the Venezuelan government. The FBI had argued that certain officials may have facilitated the migration of TdA members to the United States, viewing them as tools to destabilize both South and North American governments. But that claim was based on testimony from detainees, which the other agencies largely considered unreliable.
The document clarifies that many of these statements came from prisoners who had strong incentives to exaggerate or invent ties to the regime in hopes of receiving leniency. No concrete evidence such as financial transfers or direct communications between Venezuelan authorities and the criminal group’s leaders was ever collected.
Nonetheless, the White House has continued to defend its chosen narrative. Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, accused the media of attempting to sabotage the president’s efforts to protect national security. The Department of Justice also promised a crackdown on leak investigations, citing the Times and Post articles as examples of damage to national safety.
But with the declassification of the memo, new doubts have emerged over the entire political and judicial operation. The court, for now, has refrained from ruling on the truthfulness of the president’s claims. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU, a non-profit that defends and promotes civil rights and individual freedoms, has formally requested that the deported Venezuelans be returned to the U.S. to undergo regular immigration proceedings.
