According to local reports, the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has expanded its influence into a hotel in downtown El Paso, Texas.
The El Paso County Prosecutor's Office recently Submitted A preliminary injunction and restraining order against the Gateway Hotel, which is scheduled to close. The county claims the facility's illegal occupation is a public nuisance. Kubia Reported.
“There are men with knives and another man with an axe attacking people.”
The hotel was ordered closed in 2015, and new owners took over and applied for a temporary use permit in 2018. However, that permit expired that year, and the owners did not apply for a new permit, according to KVIA.
Additionally, an August fire code inspection found 20 violations and noted that “the building does not currently have an occupancy permit.” Despite this, police have reportedly received nearly 700 citations regarding illegal activity and code violations at the hotel since 2022.
According to the county's complaint, individuals, including members of the TDA gang, were illegally residing at the hotel, and surveillance footage showed people armed with knives fighting in the hotel's halls.
Other images showed “people partying, drinking, smoking and dancing provocatively in the presence of children…at least one gun being fired…men with knives and another man with an axe attacking people in front of security and causing damage to the hotel,” according to the county attorney.
The county prosecutor said the video footage was evidence of the building's “deplorable condition.”
Nearly 700 reports received by local authorities detailed illegal activity including drug use, theft, sexual assaults, stabbings and unattended deaths.
“The establishment and rise of the Venezuelan criminal organization 'Tren de Aragua' at the Gateway Hotel is of concern. Several Venezuelans have been found to have Tren de Aragua identifying tattoos,” an El Paso Police officer warned.
Local news outlets in Aurora, Colorado, have documented similar cases of TDA members taking over apartments, The Blaze News previously reported. Last month, KDVR shared a video of five armed men breaking into an apartment complex, as well as a video of a man using a hammer to smash the deadbolt lock on an apartment door in the same building. Former residents explained that the TDA took over the properties shortly after undocumented immigrants began moving in. The owner of one of those apartments recently said: A sale or lease has been agreed Selling property to settle city lawsuits.
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