The Trump administration says the group should be treated as an invading force. Critics say it’s a pretext for the administration’s anti-immigrant narrative.

Tren de Aragua was originally a prison gang that Hector Guerrero Flores turned into a "transnational criminal organisation", according the US state department, which is offering a reward of $5m for information that could lead to his arrest. Guerrero Flores, 41, was in and out of Tocorón for more than a decade.