A Tren de Aragua gang member was under a deportation order when he and five pals were allegedly caught on video storming an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado last month, according to ICE.
ICE had Niefred Serpa-Acosta, 20, in custody following two arrests for theft — but released him on July 17, despite the fact that a judge ruled he should be removed from the country, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told The Post.
The illegal Venezuelan migrant had also admitted that he was a member of the violent Venezuelan criminal organization — and had the tattoos to prove it, law enforcement sources previously told The Post.
It’s not clear why Serpa-Acosta was not removed from the US, but the Biden-Harris administration is not deporting Venezuelan migrants because Venezuela’s communist regime doesn’t except deportation flights.
He remains on the lam.
One month after he was allowed to go free, the admitted Tren de Aragua gangbanger was caught on video storming an apartment building with five other men — one armed with a rifle — and forcing their way into a unit.
The footage went viral and turned the Denver suburb into the nation’s leading example of how sanctuary city crime and gang problems related to the influx of migrants are flowing into the suburbs.
Aurora cops have identified two other suspects as Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 25, and Naudi Lopez Fernandez, 21, both of whom crossed the border illegally last year and were released by federal authorities into the US, according to sources.
The two had lengthy rap sheets in Colorado, but there has yet to be any evidence of their affiliation with Tren de Aragua.
Aurora cops said on Wednesday they also identified the remaining three suspects involved in the incident, but have yet to release their identities.
An ICE spokesperson told The Post that the agency issued a detainer for Serpa-Acosta with the Larimer County Jail in Fort Collins on April 24, which was holding him on theft charges. However, the jail released him without telling ICE.
He was later arrested again for theft, resisting arrest and obstructing an officer, and ICE again issued a detainer with the Douglas County Jail May 16. This time, ICE was able to scoop him up the next day.
Acosta crossed the border illegally into El Paso, Texas, in December 2022, then volunteered to leave and turned back to Mexico, according to sources. However, ICE said he was not removed, and he was actually “released on his own recognizance.”
It’s not clear why he was allowed into the country.
Serpa-Acosta and five other men were in the late August surveillance footage taken at an Aurora apartment complex that was overrun by the violent Venezuelan prison gang as they broke into a unit.
Just 10 minutes after the incident took place, the group was allegedly involved in a fatal shooting, according to CBS Denver.
Aurora police Chief Todd Chamberlain recently said the department hasn’t connected the suspects to any gangs, adding that it’s difficult to identify Tren de Aragua members specifically.
“Many of these individuals we’re talking about come from a country which does not have a strong relationship with the United States, come from a country that does not have a database that they are going to share,” he said.
After nearby sanctuary city Denver received the most number of migrants per capita in the country, some of the migrants began to spill over into neighboring Aurora, a city of 400,000 people.
And Tren de Argua came with them.
The gang’s foothold in the quiet bedroom city led the city to form a task force to combat the gang.
Making matters worse are the sanctuary laws that limit local law enforcement’s ability to communicate with ICE, former ICE director in Denver, John Fabbricatore, recently told The Post.
“More information continues to come out about Tren de Aragua growing their presence in Aurora and throughout Colorado. Because of sanctuary jurisdiction, the local police are missing out on important intelligence and information gathering being conducted by ICE,” Fabbricatore, who is now running to represent Colorado in Congress, said.
“The sanctuary jurisdiction is aiding TdA and they know they can get away with more in Colorado than other states,” he added.
