Members of the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua may be pimping women in New York City, according to a report.
Investigators with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) are investigating the issue in the Queens “Market of Sweethearts,” the New York Post reported on Saturday.
The outlet said there were several prostitutes seen in the area in the past few days.
The Post reported:
It was business as usual on the notorious sex corridor along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights when The Post visited Tuesday night, less than a week after the NYPD and State Police kicked off their operation to fight the scourge of sex trafficking that has soared with the migrant influx to the city.
The article also noted that two men, wearing the gang’s colors — which are black, red and white and often include Chicago Bulls clothing — appeared to be monitoring the women in the area.
The Post report noted advocates said women in the city’s migrant shelters are sometimes recruited by the gang members.
The leader of the Coalition Against Sex Trafficking in Women, Taina Bien-Aime, claimed one woman she heard about on Roosevelt Avenue had $1,000 daily quotas. If quotas are not met, the pimps became violent or refused to feed the women.
Bien-Aime and fellow advocates tell officers to target sex buyers because, she explained, “No buyers, no market.”
Meanwhile a retired vice-squad detective said the pimps target, dupe, and trap the women into prostitution by promising them restaurant jobs. In that particular area, the retired official noted it is sad because the women are mostly forced into the situation. He added that members of the MS-13 gang and the Sureños have historically had a hold on the area, but Tren de Aragua is now fighting them over it.
“During the de Blasio era, things really changed and all that opened up the doors for things to really be a mess,” he noted.
According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data, at least 600 Venezuelan migrants associated with the Tren de Aragua gang are living across the United States, Breitbart News reported Wednesday.
The outlet noted the data comes “after nearly four years of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s policy at the border that has welcomed millions of migrants to American communities.”
Although some claim prostitution is merely a job, “The research and testimonies of survivors reveal that prostitution is not a ‘job’ but a form of violence against those sold for sex,” according to the nonprofit organization Exodus Cry:
To read more articles about the violent Tren de Aragua gang, click here.
