(Muir Analytics’ Quick Brief is broadly based on the Pentagon EXSUM briefing method. The aim is to quickly explain an evolving hotel threat issue in about 15 lines in executive summary format. Muir has added a quick analysis of the issue that can help hotels mitigate certain risks).

Chain of events

1. The El Paso Times reports that the El Paso County Attorney’s Office filed a lawsuit to shut down El Paso’s Gateway Hotel, alleging extensive criminal activity, including gang involvement by the Tren de Aragua.
2. The Gateway Hotel, a budget hotel, is located at 104 S. Stanton Street, El Paso, Texas, 79901.
3. Founded in Tocorón prison, Tren de Aragua, or “Aragua Train,” is an international, Venezuelan-based criminal gang that’s 5,000-strong, it operates throughout the Western Hemisphere, and it’s involved in illegal mining, kidnapping, human trafficking, sex trafficking, extortion, drug trafficking, debt bondage, money laundering, and murder, says the US Treasury Department.
4. The gang has expanded its operations into the US, exploiting the porous southern border and being linked to criminal activity in El Paso and Aurora, Colorado, says NTD.
5. The US government sanctioned Tren de Aragua as a significant transnational criminal threat by Executive Order (EO) 13581 and EO 13863.
6. Over the past two years, says NTD, police have received 693 service calls for the Gateway Hotel including, but not limited to: a) 10 aggravated assaults, b) 13 instances of assaultive conduct/fights, c) 11 drug delivery or possession charges, d) 20 disorderly conduct incidents, e) at least one indecency with a child, and f) causing damage to the hotel in front of a security guard.
7. The New York Post reports that CCTV footage from inside the hotel, time-stamped from June 2024, showed Tren de Aragua gang members wielding knives, a hatchet, and a firearm, often in the presence of children.
8. NTD says court documents noted that the hotel had become a hotspot of criminal activity for prostitution, drug-related crimes, and violent behavior.
9. KTSM News reports that the El Paso County Attorney’s Office clarified that it did not allege the hotel was overtaken by a specific gang but aimed to shut the hotel down due to persistent criminal activities.
10. A temporary injunction granted by District Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza requires all residents to vacate the hotel by 10:00 am on Thursday, 12 September, pending a 9 December hearing on a permanent closure, says the El Paso Times.
11. Despite past efforts by the hotel owner to bring the property up to code, it failed multiple fire inspections and remained a public safety hazard, reports KTSM News.
12. The El Paso Times says the hotel had a history of criminal activity dating back to a previous owner, who was convicted of money laundering and human smuggling in 2011.
13. KTSM News reports that El Paso officials are working with community organizations to assist displaced hotel residents in finding relocation options and addressing public safety concerns.

Analytical Takeaways

There are seven takeaways. First, the nearly 700 police calls to the property indicate a significant security failure on behalf of the hotel. Court documents asserting vandalism in the presence of hotel security and CCTV footage of violent activity reinforce this evidence-based supposition. It appears that security was in place, but security was not provided.

Second, the hotel’s illegal activities under its former and current owners suggest that criminal elements have for many years seen the hotel as a place to conduct their activities unhindered.

Third, takeaways one and two suggest, at worst, possible complicity in said criminality by hotel management. At best, they indicate that hotel management willfully turned a blind eye to said criminality.

Fourth, with such a track record of high criminality, the current owner is highly exposed to security negligence lawsuits by any injured or aggrieved party that suffered violence on property.

Fifth, the fact that the town of El Paso took so long to shut down the Gateway Hotel indicates that laws concerning nuisance hotels at the municipality and state levels need to be stronger to adequately protect local citizens. Nuisance hotels provide a de facto headquarters for a range of criminal activities that result in injuries, deaths, and property devaluation for both the hotel and municipality in question.

Sixth, the presence of Tren de Aragua isn’t just troubling for US national security in general. It’s also troubling for the US hospitality sector (and the hospitality sector in whatever country the gang operates). Muir Analytics’ vast hotel violence database demonstrates that gangs like Tren de Aragua use hotels – mostly, but not exclusively, 1-star/budget and 2-star hotels – as de facto headquarters for coordination, sex trafficking, drug dealing, and other activities.

Seventh, keeping Tren de Aragua-type gangs out of hotels requires a joint effort between hotels and law enforcement. Such an effort begins with understanding the threat, which requires hotel threat intelligence, such as that provided by Muir Analytics’ SecureHotel Threat Portal.

Muir Analytics runs the world’s largest, most sophisticated hotel violence database – the SecureHotel Threat Portal – with over 3,600 hotel attacks (and growing). We can provide the hospitality, insurance, and law enforcement/government sectors with intelligence that facilitates full-spectrum risk reduction, which helps hotels protect guests, staff, buildings, brands, and revenues. Contact us for a consultation:  1-833-DATA-444.

Sources and further reading:

“Texas city shuts down hotel occupied by Venezuelan gang,” NTD, 12 September 2024.

“Hatchet-wielding, hard-partying migrants take over Texas hotel,” New York Post, 10 September 2024.

“Residents must vacate Gateway Hotel by Thursday,” KTSM News, 10 September 2024.

“County denies Tren de Aragua gang takeover at El Paso hotel,” El Paso Times, 9 September 2024.

“Treasury sanctions Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization,” US Department of Treasury, 11 July 2024.

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