Tren de Aragua member arrested in Texas city just days after local lawmakers insisted they did not have a gang problem

A member of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has been arrested in El Paso, Texas, law enforcement officials have announced.

Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced the capture to social media on Monday.

'USBP agents in El Paso, TX, arrested a confirmed member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. USBP agents have apprehended 70 members of this gang,' Owens tweeted. 

'Tren de Aragua is known for murder, drug trafficking, sex crimes, extortion, & other violent acts.'

No other details on the arrest were made public, however, the thug was taken into custody just days after local officials made the case that El Paso does not have a gang problem. 

Calling it 'a very inaccurate statement,' the mayor of Texas' sixth largest city said the governor and his top cop spoke out of turn at a press conference after Texas Governor Greg Abbott claimed the area was 'ground zero' for the gang, known as TdA.

'It's kind of a shame when people say that and they have no facts, no knowledge,' El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser stated at Thursday's press conference. 

'El Paso is a safe city. It's one of the safest cities in America.'

Leeser, the police chief and other city brass gathered to take reporter questions after a video surfaced, showing horrific conditions of beatings, sexual acts, many other crimes at the Gateway Hotel, after it had reportedly been taken over by TdA members.

The property, which operated mostly as a pseudo apartment building, offering daily and weekly rates, became the scene of drug use, violence, and sexual activity happen within view of children, the suit states, with much of it happening in hallway parties.

While some of the crime goes back two years, the lawsuit filed by the El Paso County Attorney alleges the situation has gotten worse since the 'introduction of the Tren de Aragua organization into the hotel.'

The building was shut down after a years-long investigation and the residents forced to move out.

Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference, all but declaring war on TdA, which has already unleashed a crime wave in several American cities. 

'El Paso...Venezuela is really ground zero at that point because they continue to support the Juarez-related gangs involved in the smuggling of people across the border. They combat with us, we deal with them daily in that regard,' Texas Director Steve McCraw said Monday.

The vicious South American gang-- best known for selling women and children into sex slavery and exploiting its own countrymen-- most recently made headlines in Aurora, Colorado, where armed thugs were seen storming an apartment complex residents say they have taken control of. 

'They have a target on their back, and we're going after them,' the Republican governor declared Monday. 

'It's the wrong state for them to try to do business in.' 

However, El Paso's mayor countered that what happened at the Gateway Hotel was an isolated incident. 

'There's been one known TdA member,' the Democrat mayor explained. 

'There's only been one (confirmed TdA member) and the federal government got involved and they're no longer in the US.'

The city also confirmed there are no other known properties or hotels under investigation for TdA activity in the border town.

'It's inaccurate, of course, and as you hear the real numbers and the numbers we're working with,' Leeser added.

'Our community is very safe. In the last ten months, crime has gone down by 10%.'

However, the police chief did explain that local cops have had a hard time designating Venezuelan citizens as official gang members because state law requires certain criteria be met.

'The difficulty with this gang that's coming up through Venezuela, is they are a sophisticated network, and we cannot legally say that there are TdA in there because they are not meeting the criteria as set by state law.' 

Meanwhile, the Gateway Hotel has been closed down, but not because of TdA. 

Rather, the city was able to shut it down due to building code violations. 

Leading up the shut down, El Paso County Attorney detailed a long list of crimes police have investigated at the Gateway Hotel, including 11 drug cases, 10 aggravated assaults, 20 disorderly conduct calls, 13 fights, two terroristic threats and one case of indecency with a child, according to KFOX-TV.

One incident detailed in the lawsuit is from a 14-year-old victim who believed she may have been raped by a migrant. 

The teenage girl met a man at a Circle-K convenience store. 

The Spanish-speaking hotel guest asked if she had a place to stay the night, and she replied she did not. 

She followed the man, who had a tattoo on his forehead with a playboy symbol and had a tattoo sleeve on his arm, back to the Gateway Hotel. 

'When they got to the hotel the male subject touched her chest and breast area underneath the shirt,' the paperwork states. 

'The Victim and male subject fell asleep till the following day the Victim noticed her pants were hanging off her buttocks and felt a little discomfort in her vaginal area but she was not sure if he penetrated.'

The documents also describe TdA gang members beating up other migrants who live in the hotel or stealing their immigration papers. 

Offering low daily rates, the hotel attracts migrants. 

The previous owner was convicted for running a human smuggling ring for Asian migrants out of the same property, the suit states. 

Local officials additionally claim the hotel is operating without a license is and seeking to close the property down since it has become a 'habitual crime property.' 

Dubbed the 'epitome of evil', the notorious criminal organization Tren de Aragua, or TdA as it is known by federal agents, has already unleashed a wave of crime in American cities.

'Tren de Aragua is the epitome of evil,' Congressman Tony Gonzales, who represents El Paso, said.

'This gang is known to rape children, spearhead murders, and cause widespread chaos.'

Law enforcement in El Paso is currently working on a confidential plan to address the growing threat, insiders told DailyMail.com

But Mexican authorities have been willing to speak more openly about TdA's troubling arrival in Juarez.

'We're tracking them in Ciudad Juarez, that's where they specifically have their principal point of operations,' revealed the state secretary of public safety Gilberto Loya.

Now in Northern Mexico, TdA is once again taking advantage of desperate migrants. 

Gangsters are charging huge fees to smuggle migrants to the US border and then into Texas.

However, the mobsters are also kidnapping migrants who have made it to the US-Mexico border without their help in a bid to make even more money.