Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents made a concentrated effort yesterday morning, resulting in over 20 arrests throughout Manhattan and the Bronx. The operations, part of President Donald Trump’s desire to ramp up deportation efforts, caught a suspected gang leader, among others. According to FOX 5 NY, agents detained Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 26, the accused ringleader of the renowned Tren de Aragua gang, on Ogden Avenue in the Bronx’s Highbridge district.
This enforcement activity targeted criminals such as Zambrano-Pacheco, who, according to officials, was wanted for a variety of violent offenses, including burglary, kidnapping, extortion, and firearm possession. His arrest, made while he was hiding in New York City, echoes the larger story of the administration’s crackdown on immigrant populations as a means of targeting criminal activity. According to ABC 7 NY, the Bronx raid was part of a bigger operation that also included Washington Heights and Queens and was accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The arrests came after a widely circulated video showed armed men, described as Tren de Aragua members, storming into an Aurora, Colorado, apartment complex last summer. ABC 7 NY reported that the president took notice of this incident and used it to justify these types of enforcement actions. Despite the federal narrative, local authorities, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, underlined that yesterday’s activities were directed at specific individuals facing criminal charges rather than symptomatic of broad raids, saying, “This is not a new dynamic.”
Eight of the undocumented individuals who became collateral in the investigation were among the twelve intended arrests. Homeland Security Secretary Noem asserted that the full effectiveness of such raids requires the lifting of sanctuary city regulations. “Working with the mayor of New York City was fantastic,” Noem said, referring to her meetings with Mayor Eric Adams, as reported by ABC 7 NY. She added, “I spoke with him four or five times last night about what we were doing, our operations, and how they could help us. So we can use all our authorities to prosecute and deport these people, sanctuary city laws must be repealed.” This mindset is clearly aligned with the administration’s broader immigration goal, casting a long shadow over the areas where these operations take place.