Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday said the state is launching a crackdown on Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has drawn national attention and that the Texas Republican likened to “MS-13 on steroids.” Abbott declared the gang a foreign terrorist organization and directed the state’s Department of Public Safety to ramp up efforts to halt its operations in Texas.

Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang whose members have been linked to instances of entire apartment complexes being taken over in Colorado and Texas, poses a much graver threat to people in the United States than even the Salvadoran gang MS-13,

A hotel in Texas may be shut down by local officials after years of illegal activity from possible Tren de Aragua gang members occurred on the property.

They have a target on their back, and we are going after them. Texas is the wrong state for them to try to do business in,’ Governor Abbott says.

Texas officials designated a Venezuelan gang as a "foreign terrorist group" and endorsed Donald Trump's claim that many migrants crossing into the U.S. were released from prisons in Latin America.