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October 17, 2025 | View in your browser ([link removed])
This week, InSight Crime reports from Tennessee ([link removed]) , in the US, where the dynamics of organized crime and immigration are being collated by the administration of Donald Trump, with damaging results.
Also this week, a historic decrease ([link removed]) in migrants apprehended on the US-Mexico border in 2025 is pushing ([link removed]) criminal groups to find new sources of income; and the recent implementation of measures to root out corruption in public contracts linked to gangs in Trinidad and Tobago threatens to provoke ([link removed]) a backlash from criminal organizations that have long profited from community development programs.
This and more below.
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** 📅 Don’t Miss Our Upcoming Event | Crime, Climate, and COP30: Environmental Crime Challenges in Latin America ([link removed])
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Join InSight Crime experts and special guests in our exclusive donor event on October 27 to discuss how organized crime fuels climate change, how government and private sector failings enable environmental crime in Latin America, and why organized crime should be part of the climate change debate. Donate today to participate ([link removed]) .
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On the Radar: Colombia Rejects Tren de Aragua’s Peace Proposal ([link removed])
This week, we cover a mass jailbreak in Guatemala that took the authorities months to discover, and Tren de Aragua leader Larry Changa's rejection from the government of President Gustavo Petro to talk peace.
Watch the full video here > ([link removed])
** Latest Investigation
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** Trump Has Merged the War on Gangs and Immigration. Tennessee Shows How ([link removed]) .
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Under US President Donald Trump, the issues of organized crime and immigration have converged, with devastating results to local communities.
Since Trump took office, criminal organizations such as MS13 and Tren de Aragua have been labeled foreign terrorist organizations that are invading the United States. Thousands of migrants have been detained and deported in the name of anti-gang offensives. And Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been supercharged while the federal agencies traditionally tasked with combating transnational organized crime face budget cuts.
Chapters
1. The Nashville ICE Raids: Anti-Gang Offensive or Immigration Crackdown? ([link removed])
2. Tren de Aragua in Tennessee: A Ghost Train? ([link removed])
3. Feeding the Beast: MS13 in Nashville ([link removed])
** News Analysis
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** All News > ([link removed])
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Even as US-Mexico Border Encounters Plummet, Migrants Are Still Vulnerable to Organized Crime ([link removed])
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Can Trinidad and Tobago’s New Government Tackle Gang Corruption? ([link removed])
** Impact
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** What We Do > ([link removed])
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InSight Crime investigator and project manager Alex Papadovassilakis provided expert analysis to CNN on Haitian gangs after the UN Security Council approved the creation of a new force to neutralize them. He noted that the force will have “more muscle” and greater independence to act compared to the previous mission.
Read more Haiti coverage here > ([link removed])
** This Week's Criminal Profile: National Liberation Army (ELN)
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The National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN) is Colombia’s last true insurgency and one of Latin America’s most powerful criminal organizations, having established itself as a binational guerrilla group through its expansion and strengthening in Venezuela in recent years. This week, the group made headlines after Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro confirmed the start of talks with the Gaitanistas and invited the ELN to resume negotiations, which were suspended in January following clashes between the illegal group and FARC dissidents in Catatumbo.
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Read our ELN profile > ([link removed])
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Read our Colombia coverage > ([link removed])
** Media Mentions
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** About us > ([link removed])
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October 15, 2025
The Latin Times ([link removed])
“Migrant crossings at the U.S.–Mexico border have fallen to their lowest level in more than four decades — but the sharp decline has left thousands of migrants stranded in Mexico, where they are increasingly targeted by organized crime groups, according to a new report by InSight Crime.”
Read our full analysis here > ([link removed])
** Support our work ([link removed])
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