Leonel Arquimedes Bustamante-Sanchez/Venezuela/Tren de Aragua Member, Weapons Trafficking

ICE Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations officers arrested 27-year-old Venezuelan national Leonel Arquimedes Bustamante-Sanchez in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on August 20 after a New Mexico State Police officer stopped a vehicle matching the description of a stolen car.

Bustamante-Sanchez was identified as a Tren de Aragua gang member and foreign fugitive wanted in Bogotá, Colombia, where he faces a seven-year sentence for trafficking and possessing illegal firearms. He is suspected of involvement in organized criminal activity, including violent offenses and drug trafficking, in the Albuquerque area.

Immigration authorities had previously encountered Bustamante-Sanchez on August 22, 2023, when Border Patrol agents apprehended him near El Paso, Texas, after he entered the United States illegally. At that time, he was served with a notice to appear before an immigration judge and released on his own recognizance, but he failed to resolve his immigration case. Following his latest arrest, Bustamante-Sanchez now remains in ICE custody, charged with illegal entry and awaiting further criminal proceedings and potential removal.

A senior HSI spokesman stressed that Tren de Aragua members are involved in serious organized violence, not “low-level crime,” and vowed to send them back “where they belong.”