Tren de Aragua takeovers appear to expand to Texas hotel — police receive nearly 700 calls

The violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has expanded its presence to a downtown El Paso, Texas, hotel, according to local reports.

The El Paso County Attorney's Office recently filed a temporary injunction and restraining order against the Gateway Hotel, a condemned lodging establishment. The county has claimed that the unlawful occupancy at the property is a public nuisance, KVIA reported.

'Men holding knives and another man with a hatchet assaulting people.'

The hotel was condemned in 2015 and picked up by a new owner, who applied for a temporary occupancy permit in 2018. However, that permit expired that year, and the owner did not apply for another one, according to KVIA.

Additionally, an August fire code inspection found 20 violations and noted that the "building has no current certificate of occupancy." Despite that, police have reportedly received nearly 700 calls about illegal activity and code violations at the hotel since 2022.

The county's legal filing claimed that individuals, including TDA gang members, have taken up unlawful residence at the property. Images taken from a surveillance video showed people armed with knives and fighting in the hall of the hotel.

According to the county attorney, other images showed "people partying, drinking, smoking and dancing provocatively while children are present ... at least one gun being shot ... men holding knives and another man with a hatchet assaulting people and causing damage to the hotel in front of a security guard."

The county attorney called the video footage evidence of the building's "deplorable state."

The nearly 700 calls to local authorities detailed illegal activity, including drug use, theft, sexual assaults, stabbings, and an unattended death.

"There should be concern due to the establishment and rise of the Venezuelan criminal organization 'Tren de Aragua' at the Gateway Hotel. We discovered several Venezuelans have the tattoo identifiers of Tren de Aragua," an El Paso police officer warned.

Local news outlets out of Aurora, Colorado, documented similar instances of TDA members taking over apartments, Blaze News previously reported. Last month, KDVR shared a video of five armed men storming through a complex and another video of a man using a hammer to destroy a deadbolt lock on an apartment door in the same building. Former residents explained that TDA took over the property shortly after illegal immigrants started to move in. The owner of one of those apartments has recently agreed to sell or lease the property to settle a city lawsuit.

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