Another traffic stop, another Tren de Aragua gangster on his way home.
U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Marysville Station responded to a request for assistance from police in Shelby Township on Wednesday after a vehicle was pulled over for a fake license plate with three Venezuelans inside, WNEM reports.
Border Patrol agents confirmed all three were in the U.S. illegally, including one 30-year-old man who was identified as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang, which is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. government.
A criminal record check for the gangster revealed multiple charges for weapons offenses, immigration violations and violent robbery dating back to 2023, according to the news site.
“The arrest of this Tren de Aragua gang member, who has a history of firearms and other criminal charges and was wanted on an active warrant out of Denver, Colorado for Failure to Appear, removes another dangerous criminal illegal alien from our country and enhances public safety,” Detroit Sector Chief Patrol Agent John R. Morris said in a statement.
“This marks the second arrest of a gang member from a foreign terrorist organization this month and underscores the relentless efforts of our agents and law enforcement partners,” he said. “These cases highlight the critical value of interagency cooperation in removing these criminal threats from our communities.”
The Tren de Aragua gang member arrested in Shelby Township is only the latest bad hombre nabbed by federal immigration enforcement agents in Michigan this month.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Kleiber Siso Balza, 25, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, in Traverse City on July 4, alongside three other men in the country illegally.
Kleiber Siso Balza, a 25-year-old from Venezuela in the United States illegally, according to ICE, had an active warrant out of Virginia for possession of burglary tools and a pending charge out of Florida for larceny.https://t.co/mcnhBG19tu
— UpNorthLive News (@upnorthlive) July 17, 2025
Balza, a suspected member of the brutal Tren De Aragua, has an active warrant from Virginia for possession of burglary tools and a pending larceny case in Florida, according to ICE.
“Tren De Aragua is known to engage in sex trafficking, debt bondage, drug trafficking, and murder to advance their interests,” said ICE HSI Detroit acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey.
Just two days after Balza’s arrest, U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Detroit Station arrested two illegal immigrants from El Salvador in Sterling Heights, including one who told agents he’s a member of the notorious MS-13 gang who spent two decades in a Salvadoran prison for the murder of a rival gang member.
The Sterling Heights arrest also netted just over five grams of crystal methamphetamines, according to ICE.
Another Border Patrol arrest in Lincoln Park on July 2 netted Franh Enrique Yonkaiker Machado-Rivas, a 27-year-old illegal immigrant wanted by Interpol in connection with a homicide investigation in his native Venezuela.
Machado-Rivas admitted to entering the U.S. illegally, and was processed for removal along with all the others.
The arrests of illegal immigrants continue despite a 700% increase in assaults on federal officers, going from 10 assaults through June 30, 2024 to 79 assaults in 2025, WPEC reports.
Michigan Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are working to expose federal immigration agents through legislation introduced in both chambers that would ban non-medical face coverings and require agents to display agency-identifying insignia, as well as their name or badge number.
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, introduced the Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement Act in the upper chamber alongside Sens. Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Alex Padilla, D-CA. Sen. Gary Peters, D-MI, co-sponsored the bill.
Similar legislation in the House, dubbed the No Secret Police Act, is co-sponsored by Michigan U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit. Scholten has also co-sponsored legislation to provide legal status and protections for illegal immigrants.
Federal officials have defended the practice of concealing the identities of immigration agents, who are facing doxxing, death threats, shooting attacks, ambushes and other violence.
Republicans in both Washington D.C. and Lansing, meanwhile, are working to bolster President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement, with additional funding for federal agencies as well as state financial penalties for municipalities that provide sanctuary.
In Michigan, immigration arrests are up 154% since President Donald Trump took office, according to data from the Deportation Data Project analyzed by MLive.
Between Jan. 20 and mid-July, ICE arrested 940 illegal immigrants in Michigan, nearly mating the 951 people detained in all of 2024, according to the news site.
