ISTANBUL

The US has identified a suspected leaker who allegedly tipped off a Venezuelan criminal gang, Tren de Aragua, about a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Los Angeles, according to Trump's border czar Tom Homan.

“We think we identified that person, under investigation right now,” Homan told Fox News on Monday.

He said he talked to Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and underlined they have opened up a criminal investigation. Homan highlighted that it means the leaker, likely an FBI employee, may go to jail, lose his or her job and pension rights.

The leak also prompted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to criticize the FBI as “corrupt” in a post on X. She vowed to prosecute “crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law.”

Tren de Aragua, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, is a transnational criminal group known for violent activities.

The planned ICE raid, described as “large scale” by the LA Times, aims to target undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles.

In recent weeks, Trump ordered the construction of a detention camp at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 of the "worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people."

The White House has since begun flying undocumented immigrants -- labeled as a "high threat" and "criminals" -- to the detention center in Cuba as part of Trump’s mass deportation plan.