By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on October 8, 2024
An Editorial Opinion
In January 2017, Birmingham, Alabama's city council passed a resolution making the municipality a "Sanctuary City" for illegal immigrants.
On August 22, 2018, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin told National Public Radio (NPR) the "Sanctuary City" designation did not go far enough for him. Woodfin proudly proclaimed Birmingham as a "Welcoming City" for illegal immigrants.
Woodfin explained what he meant by a "Welcoming City:"
"[W]e’re not going to use our police to do anything around what I call rounding up people. We just don’t believe in that. I don’t believe in that as mayor. I’ve had a clear, direct conversation with my police chief. I’ve had a clear and direct conversation with my chief of our city jail. We’re not in that business."
Woodfin also said Birmingham police would NEVER ask anyone about his/her immigration status.
Woodfin also confirmed that Birmingham would NOT cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in rounding up and deporting illegal immigrants.
Woodfin's words were music to the ears of violent Venezuelan and Columbian criminal gangs whose members have been slipping cross America's southern border in growing numbers since 2018 and makng their way to Birmingham.
Tren de Aragua is Here
Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal gang that originated in a Venezuela prison. The gang is known to be operating in the United States in Texas, Colorado and Alabama.
Since 2018, Tren de Aragua has been amassing gang members in Birmingham, a Randall Woodfin self-declared "Welcoming City."
Beginning in 2021, the gang began carving out, servicing, expanding, and protecting its drug trafficking territory in Birmingham. The city's law enforcement community has not been able to combat or contain the spread of this gang's criminal activities.
Today, Tren de Aragua’s self-proclaimed drug trafficking territory includes Birmingham’s downtown entertainment district, the city’s downtown loft district, the area in and around the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the three main nightlife districts on the city’s Southside.
At one time, drug dealing in this swath of territory fell within the exclusive province of Black street gangs that operated criminal enterprises in and near the Southtown housing projects. In 2022, these housing projects were demolished. Yet, the Black street gangs still view this turf as theirs.
How Dangerous are these International Criminal Gangs?
According to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Tren de Aragua makes Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, look like “choir boys.” MS-13 is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s.
Since February 2024, Birmingham has experienced three mass shootings. On September 21, 2024, four people were killed and 17 others were injured in a mass shooting in the Five Points South nightlife district. In February, four men were killed in a drive-by shooting near a car wash. In July, four were killed and 10 others were injured in a drive-by shooting at a birthday party hosted by a nightclub.
These mass shootings are reportedly linked to a turf war between Black street gangs operating within the city and international criminal gangs, including Tren de Aragua. Despite a $100,000 reward from the FBI, last month's Five Points South mass shooting remains unsolved.
Unfortunately, another and far more dangerous street gang is on its way to Birmingham to challenge Tren de Aragua for control of drug trafficking in the downtown to Southside quadrant. It is a Columbian gang affiliated with the vicious Clan del Golfo drug cartel. The tools of this gang’s trade include murder, torture, and dismemberment of rival gang members.
Birmingham residents will know when Clan del Golfo gang members have made their play for control of the downtown to Southside quadrant by this gang’s display of decapitated and tortured rival gang member bodies hanging from an overpass bridge on the city’s Southside.
Why is Birmingham a Haven for International Criminal Gangs?
In addition to its Woodfin-designated "Welcoming City" status, Birmingham is the most attractive territory in the state within which to ply gang-related drug trafficking and related criminal activity for several reasons.
First, Mayor Woodfin is weak, lazy, and soft on crime. Additionally, the city council is weaker and lazier than Woodfin.
Second, the city’s police force is understaffed by 56%. For all practical purposes, the city of Birmingham has no effective police patrols, np adequate police protection, and no viable criminal investigations division.
Third, Birmingham leads the nation in the percentage of unsolved homicides and unsolved mass shootings. In 2024, alone, 50% of the city's 128 homicides have gone unsolved. Likewise, the city has not solved the brutal July 2023 murder of firefighter Jordan Melton and severe wounding of firefighter Jamal Jones at Fire Station No. 9.
Fourth, Birmingham is the No. 3 most dangerous city in America in 2024, according to Forbes Magazine.
Fifth, state and federal prosecutors in Birmingham have an abysmal track-record in prosecuting violent gang members for any offenses. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has shown zero interest in prosecuting international street gang members. Instead, Marshall spends much of his time closing small unlicensed gaming businesses, persecuting a handful of transgender people in the state, fighting against voting rights for Alabama's Black citizens, and spewing insincere political rhetoric about protecting unborn children.
What's Next?
Today, Birmingham Alabama is a war zone. Birmingham is well on its way to becoming the "Murder Capital of the U.S."
Absent a drastic change in the leadership team at City Hall, there will be more gang warfare and bloodshed on the streets of Birmingham in 2025 as rival gangs battle for control of the lucrative drug trade in Birmingham’s downtown to Southside quadrant.
The Birmingham police department is not properly staffed, trained, or equipped to handle the threat level posed by Tren de Aragua or Clan del Golfo. Furthermore, Mayor Woodfin does not even afford the city's police chief the opportunity to pick his top deputies.
Under Section 4.06 of the city's Mayor-Council Act, the ultimate blame for this collossal failure of leadership lies with Mayor Randall Woodfin, who is the chief law enforcement official of the city and the chief architect of Birmingham's "Welcoming City" status.
Birmingham is reaching the point of no return with these unsolved mass shootings. The big Birmingham-based corporations that handpicked Mayor Randall Woodfin and prop him up need to reevaluate his usefulness to them and the city. It does no good for Woodfin to serve as a political “pack mule” for their corporate interests if he loses the city to the dangerous international criminal gangs that have flocked to Birmingham as part of his opened-arms “Welcoming City” campaign.