El Paso.- Tren de Aragua member arrested in El Paso. Law enforcement officials announced that a member of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was arrested in El Paso, Texas.
Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced the capture on social media Monday. “Border Patrol Agents in El Paso, TX arrested a confirmed member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Agents have captured 70 members of this gang,” Owens tweeted. “Tren de Aragua is known for murder, drug trafficking, sex crimes, extortion, and other violent acts.”
No further details were released about the arrest, however, the offender was arrested just days after local officials claimed that El Paso does not have a gang problem.
Calling the claim “a very inaccurate statement,” the mayor of Texas’ sixth-largest city, Oscar Leeser, said the governor and his top official spoke out of turn at a news conference after Gov. Greg Abbott claimed the area was “ground zero” for the TdA gang.
“It’s a shame when people say that without having facts or knowledge,” Mayor Leeser said at Thursday’s news conference. “El Paso is a safe city. It’s one of the safest cities in America.”
Leeser, the police chief and other top city officials gathered to answer questions from reporters after a video emerged showing horrific conditions of beatings, sexual acts and other crimes at the Gateway Hotel, which had apparently been taken over by TdA members.
The building, which operated primarily as a pseudo apartment complex with daily and weekly rates, became a scene of drug use, violence and sexual activity in full view of children, according to the lawsuit filed by the El Paso County attorney, which alleges that the situation worsened since the “introduction of the Tren de Aragua organization into the hotel.”
The building was closed after a multi-year investigation and residents were forced to vacate.
Last week, Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference, practically declaring war on AD, which has already unleashed a crime wave in several American cities.
“El Paso… Venezuela is really ground zero at that point because they continue to support the Juarez-related gangs involved in human trafficking across the border. They fight with us, we deal with them on a daily basis in that regard,” Texas director Steve McCraw said a week ago.
The violent South American gang, known for selling women and children into sexual slavery and exploiting its own countrymen, recently made headlines in Aurora, Colorado, where armed criminals were seen storming an apartment complex that residents say they have taken control of. (Staff/El Diario de El Paso)
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