A senior official appointed to the defense department led a thinktank that promoted fake news about the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, according to InSight Crime, a non-profit analyzing organized crime.
Joseph Humire was appointed this summer to be the head of policy focusing on the western hemisphere within the office of the under secretary of defense for policy. He was previously the executive director of a conservative thinktank focused on global security. Humire’s appointment comes as the Trump administration is ramping up its aggressive strategy against organized crime in Latin America and the Venezuelan government, which it accuses of working with TdA.
Under Humire’s leadership, the Center for a Secure Free Society thinktank published the “TdA Activity Monitor”, tracking alleged crimes by accused members of the gang throughout the US. According to InSight Crime, at least five event entries in the tracker appeared to have been “completely fabricated”. InSight Crime found zero basis for the false entries, with local police departments telling researchers the purported crimes were nonexistent. InSight Crime analyzed more than 90 of the entries, finding many relied on unverified sources.
“Some incidents are included multiple times, inflating the gang’s perceived presence and activities,” researchers found.
The monitor is no longer available online following InSight Crime’s reporting.
“The TdA Monitor is an aggregator, not a primary source of information about Tren de Aragua’s activities,” a statement from the Center for a Secure Free Society said, adding that it “reflects the media reporting”.
The Department of Defense declined to comment.
Humire has spoken publicly about alleged Tren de Aragua crimes on Fox News and other conservative outlets. He has also promoted the idea that the Venezuelan government is directing the gang’s crimes around the world, despite doubts from the intelligence community.
Humire authored a report in December 2024 for the conservative Heritage Foundation, writing that Tren de Aragua “is a perfect proxy and tool of asymmetric warfare” by the Venezuelan government to “destabilize democratic countries”. In March, Humire made similar claims before Congress.
But US intelligence agencies have cast doubt on the theory that the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, directs the gang, according to an intelligence memo whose release angered top officials, who then reportedly ordered a rewrite.
TdA has been a major focus of the Trump administration, which designated the group as a terrorist organization earlier this year. Members of the gang have been implicated in violent crimes across the hemisphere but organized crime experts say descriptions of the group have exaggerated its scale, reach and structure.
Despite skepticism from US intelligence agencies, Trump officials have repeatedly said the Venezuelan government, under Maduro, is working with Tren de Aragua to “infiltrate” the US. The accusation was used to justify the Alien Enemies Act invocation in March, leading to the expulsion of hundreds of Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a Salvadorian prison.
Humire’s appointment to the defense department comes as the administration turns up the pressure on Venezuela. Last week, Trump directed the Pentagon to use military force on some drug cartels – a significant escalation in the “war on drugs” – and the justice department doubled a bounty on Maduro to $50m.
The justice department has accused top Venezuelan officials of running the “Cartel of the Suns” to traffic drugs to the US. The state department recently declared the Cartel of the Suns to be a terrorist organization, but experts also say this claim may be overstated. Rather than a hierarchical organization trafficking drugs under Maduro’s orders, InSight Crime explains it is more a “network of networks” within the military.
The Trump administration has increased the US’s involvement in Latin America through threats of tariffs and military intervention, alleged backroom deals and prisoner swaps. Rightwing leaders have cozied up to Trump, including El Salvador’s authoritarian Nayib Bukele. An analysis by the Guardian and the Quincy Institute shows Latin American leaders have spent millions of dollars hiring lobbyists to influence the White House.
