Texas Cops Raid Apartment Complex Taken Over by Tren De Aragua Gang Members, Make 20 Arrests

Texas police have raided a vacant San Antonio apartment complex that had fallen under the “control” of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, which used the building as a base for crime, officials said.

A multi-agency task force cleared more than 300 vacant units in the Palatia Apartments on the city’s north side Saturday morning, San Antonio Police Chief McManus told reporters at a news conference.

SAPD had received several complaints from the apartment complex regarding narcotics, human trafficking and threats against apartment staff, according to police.

“We had information that members of the transnational gang Tren de Agua were in control of the area and were committing several crimes,” McManus said.

Twenty people were arrested, four of whom were confirmed members of Tren de Agua – including one person who is an “enforcer,” he said.

Nineteen of those arrested were charged. Several of those arrested had confirmed arrest warrants, officials said.

The apartments were searched by a joint team of officers from SAPD, Texas Department of Public Safety, Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Customs and Border Protection, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Homeland Security Investigations.

The arrests come after a weeks-long investigation as part of SAPD’s “Operation Aurora” initiative, which is part of a broader effort to disrupt Tren de Aragua’s influence in Texas.

According to News4SA, authorities believe San Antonio’s Tren de Aragua is involved in prostitution, cocaine sales and other violent crimes.

McManus said Saturday that the gang has been operating in the area for “several months.”

He said they have identifying tattoos and wear red.

“We assure the community and the public that we are committed to their safety and on top of this TDA issue that seems to have become very public lately,” McManus said.

Saturday’s arrest was the first by police at a known gang location, but the chief said, “We have other places we’re going to target.”

“We’re on to you,” he told the gang members. “We’re coming to get you and we know where you are.”

More than a hundred suspected members of Tren de Aragua (TdA) were part of the group that violently stormed the border near El Paso, Texas, in March.

Since then, the gang has gained a foothold across the country, reportedly taking over apartments in Colorado, seizing hotels near the Texas border in El Paso and gunning down officers in New York.

Tren de Agua is nationally known for luring women into sex trafficking, forcing them to sell their bodies in American cities to pay exorbitant trafficking fees, according to a leaked law enforcement memo obtained by The Post last month.

In the Big Apple, Tren de Aragua attempts to recruit foot soldiers to force women into sex trafficking to fund gang activities.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared the prison gang a foreign terrorist organization.