OAN Staff Blake Wolf
10:59 AM – Wednesday, January 29, 2025
A Venezuelan Tren de Aragua ringleader who was previously caught on video breaking into apartments in Aurora, Colorado, was arrested in a New York City raid on Tuesday.
Doorbell camera footage from last August showcased Pacheco and five other men, armed with large rifles, taking over an apartment complex by busting doors down and demanding payments from fearful tenants.
25-year-old Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco was arrested after U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted a raid at an apartment complex in the Bronx in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Pacheco was reportedly heavily armed during the time of his arrest. He had multiple warrants out for his arrest after racking up charges related to kidnapping, burglary, and menacing — dating back to his crimes in Colorado.
“‘Menacing’ crimes focus on the offender’s intent to place another person in reasonable fear of immediate harm. Usually, no injury or physical contact is required, and the prosecutor doesn’t need to prove the that offender intended actual physical harm or that the victim was fearful,” according to criminaldefenselawyer.com.
The Venezuelan gang leader’s arrest was one of many arrests related to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, aimed at clearing out criminals from the U.S.
Trump also recently signed an executive order “designating cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists,” adding “Other transnational organizations, such as Tren de Aragua (TdA) and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) pose similar threats to the United States. Their campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally are extraordinarily violent, vicious, and similarly threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”
The Tren de Aragua gang “sprang from a Venezuelan prison and developed into a [largescale] feared criminal organization focused on sex trafficking, human smuggling and the drug trade,” according to The New York Times.
ICE daily statistics revealed that there were 1,016 arrests along with 814 detainers lodged just on Tuesday alone.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who joined the efforts alongside ICE agents and other Trump officials, quickly responded to the arrest — writing “Enforcement operation in NYC. Criminal alien with kidnapping, assault & burglary charges is now in custody – thanks to @ICE. Dirtbags like this will continue to be removed from our streets.”
Noem added “our work started at 3 AM in NYC to arrest criminal aliens. Among the arrests was the ringleader of a vicious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. We’re getting these criminals off our streets.”
ICE raids in New York City boroughs showcase the federal push to arrest illegal aliens who have been previously hiding out in cities with Democrat-authorized “sanctuary statuses,” as the agency continues to purge the country of violent illegal gang members, murderers, rapists, and child sex offenders threatening the safety of American communities.
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