A member of the Tren De Aragua gang, known by the street name "La Barbie," has been taken into custody in connection to a sex-trafficking ring in El Paso. The suspect, Estefania Primera, 36, is a Venezuelan migrant who was arrested in late September for her alleged role in drugging and prostituting a migrant woman out of the Gateway Hotel without her consent, a situation described in court documents, as reported by FOX San Antonio.
According to the New York Post, the arrest came after a migrant woman claimed to have been forced, on multiple occasions, to take pills containing fentanyl which caused her to go "in and out of consciousness" while men sexually assaulted her. The victim reported waking up injured and alleged that instead of receiving aid, she was further abused when trying to escape, all under the coercion of Primera.
In the chaos of El Paso's criminal underworld, "La Barbie" stood out for not only orchestrating a harrowing scheme involving human trafficking and exploitation but also for utilizing her five children to store and transport narcotics. These details stem from court documents that describe how men paid Primera for the victim's services, from which she herself never saw a penny. As a result of these events, Primera is currently facing a felony second-degree charge of human trafficking. The children involved are now in the custody of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
The alleged perpetrator was apprehended on September 27 by the Texas Department of Public Safety with assistance from the El Paso Police Department, as confirmed by KFOX14/CBS4. Primera previously caught the attention of the Border Patrol in August 2023, and after claiming intentions to head to Illinois, she managed to eventually discard an electronic monitoring device issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As the situation reveals more about Tren De Aragua's far-reaching illegal activities, local residents have expressed their increased unease. One resident conveyed to the New York Post, "Before, we would walk around feeling safe, where now we don't feel safe."
The Gateway Hotel, from which "La Barbie" ran her operations, has since been shut down following an escalation of illicit activities and law enforcement interventions. Estefania "La Barbie" Primera is currently detained on a $200,000 bond in El Paso.
