Arizona: Venezuelan Migrant Accused of Claiming Maricopa as ‘His Territory’ and Threatening Neighbors

A Venezuelan migrant in Arizona is accused of terrorizing residents while trying to control an area of Maricopa.

The suspect is identified as 27-year-old Javier Enrique Erazo-Zuniga who is in custody at the Pinal County jail where officials are holding him on a $250,000 secured bond, InMaricopa reported Tuesday.

According to Arizona DPS spokesperson Bart Graves, officials said the suspect had reportedly been “claiming Hidden Valley in Maricopa as his territory and demanding money from victims.”

The man has been accused of putting a neighbor in a headlock and holding a knife to the victim’s neck which cut the person. He has also been accused of holding another neighbor at gunpoint while standing on the person’s driveway.

A few weeks ago, law enforcement served a search warrant at the suspect’s residence where they found the firearm believed to have been used in the driveway incident. He now faces several felony charges that include terrorism.

The InMaricopa article continued:

DPS has also stated that Erazo-Zuniga is charged with assisting a criminal street gang and terrorism, though those allegations were outlined by the agency rather than detailed in the indictment documents released to InMaricopa today by the Pinal County Superior Court. Given the nature of the case, more charges may be forthcoming at the federal level.

In 2024, a Venezuelan migrant who is a social media influencer promoted “squatting” and told fellow immigrants how to “invade” American homes, Breitbart News reported.

Meanwhile, the InMaricopa article also mentioned the coverage of cases involving the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang in Colorado whose members were indicted for robbery, kidnapping, extortion, and firearms offenses.

The Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua (TdA) a foreign terrorist organization in February.

“TdA is a transnational organization that originated in Venezuela with cells in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, with further reports of sporadic presence in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil. This brutal criminal group has conducted kidnappings, extorted businesses, bribed public officials, authorized its members to attack and kill U.S. law enforcement, and assassinated a Venezuelan opposition figure,” the U.S. Department of State said.

During President Donald Trump’s first year back in office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 7,000 illegal alien gang members which included convicted killers and assailants, Breitbart News reported Tuesday.