The claim is partly true but not in the way it is phrased. The Guardian did publish an investigation showing that several U.S. police departments circulated bulletins warning that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had supposedly ordered members to shoot police officers on sight. But the investigation also makes clear that this rumour came from a single unverified alert in New Mexico and then spread rapidly through law‑enforcement networks and political rhetoric. Federal agencies, including the FBI, later reviewed the intelligence and concluded that there was no credible evidence supporting the existence of such an order. So the phenomenon described is real, but the claim that the gang actually issued such a directive is not supported.
The only primary material available comes from internal law‑enforcement documents obtained through public‑records requests by the transparency group Property of the People. These documents show how the initial New Mexico alert was circulated and repeated by other agencies without verification. The Guardian article links directly to these files and describes their content in detail. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/23/venezuela-tren-de-aragua-gang-police
The Guardian investigation is the main secondary source, and it is the one that uncovered the internal documents. It explains how the rumour spread, how it was used politically, and how the FBI later assessed it as inaccurate. NBC also relayed the findings, summarising how the actual facts told by the intelligence agencies contradicts what’s Trump said about Tren de Aragua
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-intelligence-agencies-contradict-trumps-tren-de-aragua-claims-rcna205107
The Guardian is known for investigative reporting with a strong focus on government accountability, which means it tends to highlight institutional failures or misuse of intelligence. This does not invalidate the reporting, but it is important to keep in mind that the angle emphasises how misinformation spreads within law enforcement. MSN simply republishes content from other outlets, so its framing depends entirely on the original reporting.
It is true that police departments in several states circulated bulletins warning of a supposed Tren de Aragua directive to kill officers. It is also true that this rumour originated from a single unverified alert in New Mexico and then spread widely through official channels and political speeches. The Guardian’s investigation confirms all of this using internal documents.
Federal agencies, including the FBI, later reviewed the intelligence and concluded that there was no credible evidence of any such order. Experts interviewed in the investigation also stressed that the gang does not have the organisational structure in the U.S. to issue or coordinate such directives. So the underlying rumour is false, even if its circulation is well‑documented.
The claim comes from The Guardian’s reporting, but the journalists rely on anonymous law‑enforcement documents and internal memos. Since the original New Mexico alert was not attributed to a named officer and the FBI’s internal assessment is not tied to a specific spokesperson, there is no practical way to contact the individuals behind the initial rumour. The Guardian article itself is the closest accessible source.
