A new report claims that the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang has expanded its operations in the United States and is currently operating in 16 states.

According to an internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by The New York Post, officials were warned last week that the Venezuelan gang is continuing to grow in the United States and recently expanded its operations to Montana, Virginia, Wyoming, and Washington, D.C.

The New York Post reported that Tren de Aragua already has existing operations in California, New York, Florida, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.

The internal Homeland Security memo, labeled “Expansion of Tren de Aragua Across the United States Presents Challenges for Law Enforcement,” warned that the gang has increased its “violent tendencies” as it continues to spread across the country.

Fox News reported that the violent Venezuelan gang has been able to infiltrate the United States due to the open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration. According to Fox News, Tren de Aragua has been linked to multiple murders, assaults, police officer shootings, robberies, and gun smuggling activities. The Venezuelan gang has also been reportedly linked to the sex trafficking of migrant women in New York City, taking over apartment complexes, and drug dealing.

READ MORE: Venezuelan gang takes over 4 apartment complexes in Texas: Report

During an appearance on “Fox & Friends” last Friday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch warned of an increase in Tren de Aragua’s human trafficking activity in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga.

Rausch said, “This gang has exploited [the border]… They go from human trafficking to organized retail crime theft, and then they move into the drug trade, taking on the cartels in very violent, bloody battles that they’ve had.” 

Last week’s memo noted, “As the population of Venezuelan nationals continues to increase, the potential for violent TdA migrants is highly probable.”

The Heritage Foundation recently issued a brief, warning that the Biden-Harris administration’s “open-border policies and feckless law enforcement” have allowed transnational criminal organizations, such as Tren de Aragua, to “set up shop” in the United States.

“This is a gang whose propensity for violence and ruthlessness is well documented,” former Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan said in the report. “TdA is expanding its criminal operations like a slow growing cancer across our nation and unleashing a preventable wave of crime that will be with us for decades.”