A female Tren de Aragua gang member known as “La Barbie” has been arrested for running a violent sex trafficking operation out of a hotel in El Paso.
Estefania Primera, 36, was arrested in late September when El Paso law enforcement found her with five underage children. Investigators discovered that Primera would use her children to hide and sell narcotics, according to a U.S. Border Patrol memo obtained by the Post.
A sex trafficking victim was able to identify Primera as the leader of a sex trafficking ring being held at Gateway Hotel.
Primera is accused of drugging a migrant woman and forcing her to work as a prostitute out of the hotel. She was staying at Gateway Hotel when she met Primera, who told her she could make money by prostituting. The victim told Primera that she did not want to.
Primera then forced the victim to take an M30 pill containing fentanyl, and multiple other unidentified pills that caused the victim to go unconscious. When she woke up, she found numerous men having sex with her. She reportedly suffered “horrific injuries” as a result of the gang rape.
On multiple instances, the victim woke up bleeding and suffering from other injuries as a result of the abuse. Primera would tell her to take another M30 pill.
When the victim attempted to run away, Primera punched and kicked her, forcing her back to the hotel.
The victim told law enforcement that she told the hotel manager about the trafficking, but the manager said it was just domestic violence and told her to go back to her room.
On Sept. 10, the victim contacted a border patrol agent for help. She was interviewed by an agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety, who found an online advertisement for the woman listing various sexual services.
She told officers that she saw men pay Primera for the sexual acts, however the victim never received any money. According to court documents, the woman was in Border Patrol custody at the time she worked as a prostitute.
Gateway Hotel has since been temporarily shut down after the owner was accused of illegally operating the hotel and allowing criminal activity, per the El Paso Times. El Paso Police had been called to the hotel nearly 700 times before it was shut down.
Primera was arrested outside of the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, which is known for housing newly arrived migrants. The church is in an area where many migrants have been spotted with Tren de Aragua’s gang tattoos, per The Post.
Like many other Tren de Aragua gang members, Primera is an illegal migrant from Venezuela. She reportedly crossed the border illegally near El Paso in August 2023, when she told Border Patrol agents she was on her way to Illinois. She was put under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s electronic monitoring technology, Homeland Security sources told The Post.
Within weeks, she got rid of the ankle monitor tracking device.
Primera frequently posts videos of her dancing and partying in El Paso on TikTok.
She is now being held at an El Paso jail on a $200,000 bond where she is facing a felony second-degree charge of human trafficking. Her children have been placed into state custody.
Tren de Aragua has wreaked havoc across the country, forcing women into prostitution in at least eight states. Recently, investigators linked the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray from Houston to the violent Venezuelan gang.
The gang is suspected to be responsible for a recent home invasion in northwest Dallas, when a woman was tied up inside of her home as three gang members robbed her, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Dallas Police have confirmed that criminal activity linked to the gang has taken place in North Texas. They have been reported living in the Oaks of North Dallas apartment complex, located in the 4700 block of Haverwood Lane.