Several suspected members of the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua (TdA) were busted hiding out in a New York City apartment building located next to a daycare center, a law enforcement source tells Fox News, underlining how the gang has immersed itself among the general population in the sanctuary city.
The New York Post was first to report on the Bronx bust with the publication reporting that seven suspected members of TdA – which has been terrorizing cities across the nation following – were arrested inside the apartment building and were sought on multiple warrants after crossing the US border with Mexico.
The raid on the Bronx five-story apartment building, which is located next to the Doña Juana Day Care facility, took place on Dec. 5 and was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the NYPD's federal task force, a law enforcement source tells Fox News. A separate raid took place in Brooklyn with 22 suspected members of the gang scooped up in both raids.
A worker at the daycare center tells Fox News Digital that there were children inside the facility when the raid took place.
VENEZUELAN GANG MEMBERS LINKED TO VIOLENT APARTMENT TAKEOVER ARRESTED IN NEW YORK CITY
The vicious gang has taken advantage of a lax southern border under the Biden-Harris administration, with many of its foot soldiers swarming the U.S. and unleashing hell on unsuspecting communities. The gang has been engaged in all sorts of violent crime, including murders, shootings of police officers, assaults, robberies and gun smuggling into migrant shelters.
The alleged gangbangers were traced to the Bronx apartment after tracking the ankle monitor of suspected TdA member Jarwin Valero-Calderon to the hideout on the edge of Crotona Park, sources told The Post. Crotona Park is where President-elect Trump held a campaign rally in May.
The NYPD confirmed to Fox News that Valero-Calderon was one of those who was taken into custody on Dec. 5 on a federal arrest warrant.
According to the Post, Valero-Calderon entered the U.S. at Eagle Pass, Texas, in August 2022 and was released with a court date. In the meantime, he racked up a long rap sheet in multiple states before being ordered deported in April but was still on the loose on Dec. 5, the Post reports, citing sources.
Valero-Calderon reported to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in New York City in September 2022 but then went on his crime spree.
VENEZUELAN MIGRANT GANG TREN DE ARAGUA NOW OPERATING IN 16 STATES: REPORT
He was twice busted on larceny charges in New York and New Jersey with a conviction in June 2023. He was also arrested on a separate petty larceny conviction in Nassau County on April 24, 2023, before being arrested in Florida in February for fraud, larceny and resisting arrest, according to the Post.
Other suspected TdA members arrested in the raid, according to the Post, include Angel Gabriel Marquez Rodriguez, 19, who was arrested in Chicago last year on a shoplifting charge then four months later was busted on larceny charges in New York City and again three months later.
Jhonaiker Alexander Gil Cardozo, 24, was also arrested by the NYPD on grand larceny and stolen property charges back in July and had two other Big Apple busts in June for reckless endangerment and robbery but was left out on the streets.
Last week, New York City Mayor Adams sat down with incoming border czar Tom Homan and agreed to work with the new Trump administration in weeding out migrant criminals in the city. It was met with pushback by some Democrats.
News of the raids was welcomed by New York City Council Member Joe Borelli of Staten Island.
"This is a gang that set up camp in our city, and it is beyond the pale that the Democratic Party is entrenched against having the NYPD cooperate with ICE to remove them," Borelli told Fox News Digital. "They are actively recruiting members among the migrant community and unfortunately, spend most of their time terrorizing those very same people."
"Mayor Adams should use every resource available to end the city law that precludes the NYPD from cooperating with ICE because it is specific groups like this that make me question the sanity of people who seek to protect them and ensure they remain here."
Those comments were echoed by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y. who told "Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street" that Democrats have been weakening laws to allow for illegal immigrants, gangs and criminal organizations to stay within New York and "wreak havoc."
"It's good news that we're hearing Eric Adams change tune, but quite frankly, he has the ability right now under existing law to cooperate with Ice detainer requests for people who are hardened criminals for violent offenders, for sex offenders," Malliotakas said.
Late last month, two members of the violent gang who participated in a caught-on-camera-armed apartment invasion in Aurora, Colorado, were captured in New York City.
Denyeer Aramillo Meneses, 23, and Edison Pena Angulo, 25, both pictured in the viral video, were nabbed in the Bronx by an NYPD gang task force and Homeland Security in a major credit card scam and drug trafficking bust.
Fifteen suspected members of the notorious gang were picked up after a six-month investigation into the gang’s crimes that led to a drug ring, sources told the New York Post.
Fox News’ Christina Coulter contributed to this report.
