Tren de Aragua gang leader ‘La Barbie’ ran brutal border hotel brothel after ditching ankle monitor

Estefania “La Barbie” Primera, a tattooed Tren de Aragua member, was accused of running a violent sex trafficking ring in El Paso.

Authorities revealed that Primera had been allowed to remove her ICE-issued ankle monitor a year before her arrest, after she claimed her belongings, including the monitor’s charger, had been stolen.

Primera, who illegally crossed the El Paso border in August 2023 with family members, was initially released by Border Patrol and fitted with a tracking device by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, weeks later, she persuaded ICE officers to remove the monitor, leaving her free to orchestrate trafficking operations.

Using the Gateway Hotel as a base, Primera allegedly drugged victims with fentanyl-laced pills, facilitating gang rapes by multiple men while victims were unconscious. According to court documents, one victim sustained severe injuries and faced physical abuse when she tried to escape, with Primera forcing her back to the hotel through violent means.

Primera’s TikTok account, “barbie underground official,” flaunted her tattoos and gang affiliations, showing her dancing seductively to Spanish music. In late September, she was arrested outside El Paso’s Sacred Heart Church alongside her five children, who she allegedly used as drug mules.

TdA, an international gang operating across 19 U.S. states, has used the El Paso border as an entry point for spreading its criminal network. Primera is now being held in an El Paso jail on a $200,000 bond.