The pre-dawn raid was a joint operation carried out by more than 150 officers of the San Antonio Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, ATF, and the Texas Anti Gang Unit. Officers swept through some 300 vacant units at the Palatia Apartments, a complex on the city's north side, about a mile west of the airport and just east of the Harmony Hills residential subdivision. 

"We had information that members of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua were in control of the area and committing various crimes," San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus told reporters at a press conference at a nearby parking lot across a street from Casa Sol, a popular Tex-Mex restaurant frequented by families and business diners alike. The alleged rash of crimes included human trafficking, drug law violations and threats made against apartment employees.

"We've confirmed that four Tren de Aragua members are in custody. One TDA member is a confirmed enforcer for that gang," said McManus, using a term that describes someone responsible for ensuring subordinates adhere to the gang's rules and orders. Of the arrestees, 16 were Venezuelans. 

A News4SA reporter on the scene described hearing flash-bang grenades being deployed as the raid was launched around 4:45 am, noting... 

"There are 900 apartments in this complex. We're told by federal law enforcement sources that most of the apartments are housing migrants. We're also told that janitors and those who work here fear for their safety, and that of other migrants who have nothing to do with the Venezuelan prison gang."

On September 16, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to launch a statewide operation to target the gang. "We will not let them use Texas as a base of operations to terrorize our citizens," Abbott told reporters. "They have a target on their back, and we are going after them. Texas is the wrong state for them to try to do business in."

The characterization of the gang having asserted "control" of the San Antonio complex echoes infamous video imagery that emerged from an Aurora Colorado apartment complex in August. Those videos showed gang members roaming The Edge at Lowry complex with rifles and pistols. Much as the San Antonio criminals were said to have threatened employees of the complex, police say gang members in Aurora threatened to kill property managers at a second complex, Whispering Pines.