Arrest made in case involving migrant gang member accused of killing and assaulting girlfriend

A man from Venezuela who is in the U.S. illegally and is believed to be a member of the Tren de Aragua gang was taken into custody in Chicago for the fourth time on Tuesday. This happened after he had already been scheduled for deportation under President Biden’s administration in 2022. 

The man, identified as Pedro Colmenares, aged 33, was apprehended on the city’s west side during a joint operation involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chicago police, and U.S. Marshals, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official who spoke to Fox News.

Colmenares was wanted by authorities for the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a former girlfriend in September. Reports indicate that he had threatened the victim with a firearm during the incident. 

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)

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.