‘We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump’s agenda by leaking false information,’ a DOJ official said.
The Justice Department announced Friday that it has opened a criminal investigation into a leak of classified intelligence regarding the Tren de Aragua gang—information that was reported by The New York Times and appears to challenge the legal foundation for President Donald Trump’s recent deportation efforts targeting the violent transnational gang.
In a statement issued March 21, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating what he called the “selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified” intelligence about Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that the State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
The gang has become a key focus of Trump’s immigration and national security agenda. On March 15, Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act—a rarely used wartime law—to declare members of Tren de Aragua “alien enemies” invading the United States in coordination with the Venezuelan regime.
The proclamation allows for their immediate arrest and deportation without standard due process protections. However, this move has faced legal challenges and public scrutiny.
The New York Times reported Thursday that a leaked intelligence document dated Feb. 26 challenges the legal basis for Trump’s designation of the criminal group as “alien enemies.”
According to the document, analysts assessed with “moderate confidence” that the gang is not acting under the direction or in coordination with the Venezuelan government—a key assertion in Trump’s proclamation. The Epoch Times has not independently verified the leaked report.
Trump’s proclamation described the group as part of a “hybrid criminal state” conducting a “predatory incursion” into the United States.
Blanche strongly condemned the leak, calling it a politically motivated effort by elements of the “Deep State” to derail Trump’s crackdown on Tren de Aragua’s criminal activities in the United States and his efforts to quickly deport dangerous terrorists.
“We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump’s agenda by leaking false information onto the pages of their allies at the New York Times,” Blanche said
“The Alien Enemies Proclamation is supported by fact, law, and common sense, which we will establish in court and then expel the TDA [Tren de Aragua] terrorists from this country.”
By Tom Ozimek
