Pedro Colmenares was ordered deported in 2022, but local officials refused to comply with ICE detainer
Chicago resident blasts sanctuary mayors for defending harmful migrant policies
Chicago resident Patricia P-Rae Easley joins America Reports to discuss mayors of sanctuary cities defending their immigration policies as the GOP aims to hold city officials accountable.
A Venezuelan illegal migrant and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member was arrested in Chicago for a fourth time Tuesday after first being ordered deported under the Biden administration in 2022.
Pedro Colmenares, 33, was arrested Tuesday morning on the sanctuary city’s west side in a multi-agency bust with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chicago police and U.S. Marshalls involved, a DHS official told Fox News.
Colmenares had a warrant for his arrest for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in September, whom police said he threatened to shoot.
Pedro Colmenares, a Venezuelan illegal migrant and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member, was arrested in Chicago for a fourth time Tuesday after first being ordered deported under the Biden administration in 2022. (Chicago Police Department, left, and David Dee Delgado/Getty Images, right)
CHICAGO PD SAYS IT ‘WILL NOT ASSIST’ WITH UPCOMING ICE DEPORTATIONS
Prior to Tuesday’s arrest, Colmenares was taken into custody by Chicago police last month for questioning in relation to a murder, but he was not charged. Instead, he was released on separate misdemeanor domestic battery charges in relation to the sexual assault, Fox News first reported.
Since Fox News’ report about Colmenares being set free last month, a new warrant was issued for the kidnapping and sexual assault charges that led to the migrant’s arrest yesterday.
Colmenares was arrested on Feb. 17 and questioned for three days about his suspected involvement in the shooting death of a 25-year-old Hispanic man last September.
Chicago police said probable cause existed to place the illegal migrant into custody for murder, but the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office declined to press homicide charges, telling Fox News it "carefully reviewed" the case and found insufficient evidence and "uncooperative witnesses."
Pedro Colmenares was ordered deported in 2022, but local officials refused to comply with an ICE detainer. (Chicago Police Department, left, and David Dee Delgado/Getty Images, right.)
ICE ARREST OF MIGRANT SPARKS ANGER PROTEST BEFORE VIOLENT GANG TIES EXPOSED
At the same time, Chicago police wanted to press felony charges on Colmenares for the kidnapping and sexual assault of his former girlfriend last year in Chicago. He allegedly pulled up in a car to the 27-year-old Hispanic woman, telling her to get in "or I’ll shoot you."
Police say he then drove the woman against her will to a separate location on Chicago’s west side, where he allegedly "battered and sexually assaulted the victim" over several days.
Prosecutors rejected felony charges in the sexual assault case, also citing insufficient evidence, CWB reported. Colmenares was hit with misdemeanor domestic battery charges and set free on probation. The misdemeanor charges ultimately were dropped but the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office announced it found new evidence and a fresh warrant was approved.
Colmenares had a warrant for his arrest in Chicago for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in September, whom police said he threatened to shoot. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Colmenares entered the U.S. in September 2022 and was ordered deported by an immigration judge in November of that year, according to DHS. While appealing the deportation ruling, he ended up in Chicago.
Two years after the deportation ruling, Colmenares was back on DHS' radar after a weapons charge in the Chicago area last year. DHS issued an ICE detainer on Colmenares, but because of its sanctuary policy, Cook County refused to comply with the detainer, and Colmenares was set free.
Police records indicate Colmenares was first arrested in Chicago in February 2024 for a broken taillight, revealing he was driving without a license in an uninsured and unregistered car.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to
