Despite being an illegal immigrant and suspected gang member, Pedro Colmenares is currently on probation and wandering the streets of Chicago freely. This is despite facing charges of domestic battery, a prior weapons charge in Cook County, and a deportation order issued in 2022.
Originally from Venezuela, the 33-year-old Colmenares is believed to be a member of the Tren de Aragua gang. He entered the United States in September 2022 and was instructed to leave the country by an immigration judge in November of the same year. However, while appealing this decision, he found himself in Chicago.
Colmenares drew the attention of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) two years later due to a weapons offense in the Chicago region in October. DHS responded by placing an ICE detainer on Colmenares. Nevertheless, Cook County refused to honor the detainer due to its sanctuary policy, thus allowing Colmenares to be released.
Colmenares is facing charges in a shocking kidnapping and sexual assault of his former girlfriend last October in Chicago. He is charged with domestic battery with bodily harm for allegedly pulling up in a car to the 27-year-old Hispanic woman and 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.
A Chicago Police patch displaying the department’s logo. (Chicago Police Department)
Colmenares was ordered to appear in-person before a judge on March 5 in Chicago. He was ordered to surrender weapons and stay away from the domestic abuse victim, according to a court document, but he was not assigned electronic monitoring.
