Bennito L. Kelty
June 12, 2026
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the members of the media, as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stand next to him, after attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, U.S., June 8, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Trump's announcement of killing the leader of a Venezuelan gang carries a "chilling" detail, according to a legal expert.
According to Trump, the U.S. military launched a "swift and lethal" strike against the leader of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that was a hot topic during the 2024 presidential election. Ryan Goodman, a chaired professor at NYU and editor-in-chief of Just Security, called out the details in Trump's Truth Social post announcing the strike.
Goodman was alarmed in particular by a line of Trump's post calling the gang a "foreign army."
"If they're this 'army,' what's the limiting principle for stopping that use of state lethal force?" Goodman asked. "More significant and chilling is how far you have to read down this Trump post to learn the individual was not extrajudicially killed inside the U.S."
Additionally, he said the Justice Department's position on the Alien Enemies Act seemed to "fall completely apart," when the president said the strike was coordinated "closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well."
Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act against Tren de Aragua in March 2025, claiming the gang acts as an arm of the Nicolás Maduro government. The designation, his administration claimed, allowed him to deport Venezuelan migrants without ordinary due process. A declassified U.S. intelligence assessment contradicted Trump's claim that Tren de Aragua operates under Maduro's control.
"DOJ position - and statute - requires TdA to be acting on behalf of Venezuelan government," Goodman noted.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the members of the media, as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stand next to him, after attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, U.S., June 8, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Trump's announcement of killing the leader of a Venezuelan gang carries a "chilling" detail, according to a legal expert.
According to Trump, the U.S. military launched a "swift and lethal" strike against the leader of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that was a hot topic during the 2024 presidential election. Ryan Goodman, a chaired professor at NYU and editor-in-chief of Just Security, called out the details in Trump's Truth Social post announcing the strike.
Goodman was alarmed in particular by a line of Trump's post calling the gang a "foreign army."
"If they're this 'army,' what's the limiting principle for stopping that use of state lethal force?" Goodman asked. "More significant and chilling is how far you have to read down this Trump post to learn the individual was not extrajudicially killed inside the U.S."
Additionally, he said the Justice Department's position on the Alien Enemies Act seemed to "fall completely apart," when the president said the strike was coordinated "closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well."
Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act against Tren de Aragua in March 2025, claiming the gang acts as an arm of the Nicolás Maduro government. The designation, his administration claimed, allowed him to deport Venezuelan migrants without ordinary due process. A declassified U.S. intelligence assessment contradicted Trump's claim that Tren de Aragua operates under Maduro's control.
"DOJ position - and statute - requires TdA to be acting on behalf of Venezuelan government," Goodman noted.
‘More Lawless, Performative Killing’: Trump Says US Strike Executes Alleged Leader of Venezuelan Gang
“Outside of armed conflict, premeditated killing is referred to as murder,” said one expert.
A screenshot shows the US military targeting a compound inside Venezuela in June 2026.
(Photo: US Southern Command)
Jake Johnson
Jun 13, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
US President Donald Trump and Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in social media posts late Friday that American forces, in coordination with Venezuelan authorities, killed the alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua gang in a strike on a compound inside Venezuelan territory.
“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren de Aragua,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform, posting what appears to be footage of the strike. Hegseth later specified that the attack took place inside Venezuela earlier this week and that Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores—known as Niño Guerrero—was “confirmed killed.”
The strike that purportedly killed Guerrero, whom the US Justice Department charged last year with multiple crimes including “facilitating acts of terrorism,” came in the context of the Trump administration’s broader, deadly military campaign in South America and off its coast. Dozens of US bombings of boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean since last September have killed more than 200 people—including possible victims of human trafficking—with the stated goal of stemming the flow of drugs to the US (an objective that experts say has not been achieved).
Leading human rights organizations have characterized the boat bombings as “murder.”
Brian Finucane, senior adviser to the US Program at the International Crisis Group, called the strike that allegedly killed Guerrero Flores “more lawless, performative killing by the Trump administration.”
“Outside of armed conflict, premeditated killing is referred to as murder,” Finucane wrote on social media. “There is no indication this strike occurred in an armed conflict. Including because, as best we can tell, TdA doesn’t constitute an ‘organized armed group.’”
The government of Venezuela, whose president was kidnapped by US forces earlier this year, issued a statement confirming its involvement in the strike this week.
“During the operation, clashes occurred with members of criminal groups, resulting in the death of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias ‘Niño Guerrero,’ the leader of one of these criminal organizations,” the statement reads.
It was not immediately clear if others were killed in the military attack.
“We extend our gratitude to the Venezuelan security forces for their support to the successful joint operation against a Tren de Aragua compound that resulted in the death of the narco-terrorist organization’s leader,” said Gen. Francis Donovan, the head of the US Southern Command.
The Associated Press noted that “Trump and administration officials have consistently blamed Tren de Aragua for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some US cities.”
“The president spent months repeating the claim—contradicted by a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment—that Tren de Aragua had operated under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s control,” the AP added.
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