Tren de Aragua (TdA) is a large Venezuelan-origin criminal organization that began as a prison gang in Tocorón prison in Aragua state in the early 2010s and has since expanded into a transnational network. Authorities and researchers say it is involved in activities such as extortion, drug trafficking, kidnapping, human trafficking, and violent assaults. It operates primarily in Venezuela but now has a presence in multiple Latin American countries (including Colombia, Peru, Chile, Brazil and others) and has begun appearing in cases in the United States and Mexico, often following routes of Venezuelan migration.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is the main criminal investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security. HSI investigates serious cross‑border crimes such as human smuggling, drug trafficking, gangs, cybercrime, child exploitation, financial crimes, and export violations. It operates under ICE’s authority, but focuses on criminal investigations, while ICE’s other major directorate (Enforcement and Removal Operations, ERO) focuses on arresting and deporting people who are removable under immigration law.
A “final order of removal” is a legally binding decision that a non‑citizen must be deported from the United States, after their immigration court case and any appeals are finished or waived. Once the order is final, ICE is generally required to try to remove the person during a 90‑day “removal period,” although in practice removals can occur later or be delayed by practical or legal obstacles.
Public information does not spell out the exact legal mechanism used in his December 18, 2023 release, but the DHS press release indicates that he crossed the southern border in October 2023 and was then released into the U.S. pending immigration proceedings. In general, migrants who are not immediately removed can be processed by Border Patrol and then released under parole, bond, or other forms of discretionary release while their immigration cases move forward; a final order of removal can then be issued months later by an immigration judge, as happened on June 11, 2024 in his case. Why he was released rather than detained continuously is not detailed in available records.
In a case like this, a racketeering charge typically alleges that the defendant participated in an ongoing criminal enterprise (here, allegedly the Tren de Aragua organization) through a pattern of serious crimes. Under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), prosecutors must generally show: (1) the existence of an “enterprise” affecting interstate or foreign commerce; (2) that the defendant was associated with or employed by that enterprise; and (3) that the defendant engaged in at least two qualifying “predicate” offenses (such as murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, or other listed felonies) as part of the enterprise’s activities. In this indictment, the listed predicates reportedly include murder, kidnapping, and drug‑trafficking conduct tied to the alleged TdA network in New Mexico.
According to the Department of Justice, the racketeering, murder, and related charges against Yorvis Michel Carrascal Campo and 10 co‑defendants are being prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Federal prosecutors in New Mexico obtained the RICO and violent‑crime indictment as part of a coordinated nationwide operation targeting alleged Tren de Aragua members.
The full indictment is not yet widely reproduced in plain‑text news stories, but DOJ and media summaries describe several types of evidence alleged to link Carrascal Campo both to the murder and to TdA membership: • Communications and coordination with other alleged TdA members before and after the June 16–17, 2024 kidnapping, interrogation, and strangulation of the victim in an Albuquerque apartment. • His alleged role in supplying ketamine to TdA members in New Mexico for use in making and distributing a synthetic drug known as “tusi,” indicating participation in the gang’s drug‑trafficking operations. • His alleged participation, along with other defendants, in cleaning the apartment of evidence and transporting and burying the victim’s body in a suitcase at a remote New Mexico desert site, with burial locations coordinated via shared digital map pins. These allegations, if proven, are used by prosecutors both as direct evidence of the charged murder and as predicate acts showing his involvement in the Tren de Aragua criminal enterprise. The detailed forms of underlying evidence (such as messages, forensic data, or witness testimony) have not yet been publicly described in full.