What’s Really Happening At Hotel in Downtown El Paso?

The County Attorney’s office says the Gateway Hotel is being illegally operated and is even housing members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

A state judge has ordered the temporary shut-down of the hotel over conditions and rampant crime on the property.

The owner of the hotel, Howard Yun is accused of operating the hotel without a valid permit since 2018. Then there are the 700 calls to police in the last year alone.

The number of police calls was quoted at 693 in a report two days ago so, at that rate, maybe they’ve passed the 700 number by the time this is published.

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El Paso police raised concern that the hotel is a dilapidated hotbed of criminal activity. EP cops also say they recognized some of the residents tattoos as from the Tren de Aragua gang. This is the same gang that made headlines for infiltrating various apartment buildings in Aurora Colorado. Some news sources have claimed the gang has “taken over” some of the complexes, which Aurora police deny

Two El Paso televisions stations have conducted walk-throughs of the hotel including interviews with residents. I’ll link to both of those reports but here’s a summary:

The people interviewed by the stations (KFOX and KVIA) seem to be Americans. Both residents, a middle aged black man and an older white man, spoke fluent English though neither was identified by nationality.  The hotel looks like crap.  One of the residents points out the blood smears that are still on the walls. The same resident says that he only lives there because it’s what he can afford. After watching the videos you may wonder how much money they ARE paying to live in such squalor. Also, a neighboring merchant describes the crimes he has personally seen, including crack smoking in broad daylight.

Here are both reports: